Intersections. East European Journal of Society and Politics

From neighbour to member

Kerry Longhurst — 2024-10-16

This article examines Moldova’s prospective membership in the European Union (EU) in the wake of the EU’s renewed enlargement drive which was prompted by Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. It explores the dynamics shaping Moldova’s accession path, spotlighting obstacles to integration that official reports appear to overlook or underplay. The article compares EU and Moldovan documents, civil society reports, and insights from interviews with Moldovan officials and civil society representatives to gain a nuanced picture of the evolving situation. Attention is also given to the distinct characteristics of the currently unfolding enlargement process, including its sense of urgency and geopolitical significance which have led to calls for an expedited or ‘fast-track’ accession. Findings note that despite Moldova’s impressive progress in aligning with EU standards in many areas, substantial hurdles in justice reform, combating corruption and de-oligarchisation persist. Incomplete public administration reforms, uneven civil society involvement in decision-making, and issues associated with the Transnistria conflict also have consequences for Moldova’s EU prospects, especially if an expedited version of enlargement occurs.

Political polarization and corruption: A theoretical and empirical review

Aron Hajnal — 2024-10-16

Notwithstanding the considerable scholarly and public attention that political polarization and corruption have attracted in recent years and the important mechanisms through which the former may influence the latter, research in this area remains limited and inconclusive. This article offers a comprehensive theoretical and empirical synthesis of the current state of research in this domain. It finds that a large fraction of the apparent contradictions can be attributed to the conceptual inconsistencies and ambiguity surrounding political polarization. The types of polarization that have an inherently hostile and uncivil element (usually referred to as affective or pernicious polarization) undermine democratic accountability, which leads to more corruption. The role of ideological polarization among parties and the general population is more complex: it may boost accountability and decrease corruption but can also contribute to the aforementioned harmful forms of polarization and enhance the role of partisan bias in public opinion formation, thereby increasing corruption. The overall effect of ideological polarization on corruption may depend on the nature and the degree of the former, as well as on mitigating contextual factors. The two may create a vicious circle as corruption also increases political polarization via various channels.

Determinants of experiences and perceptions of corruption

Marina Makarova — 2024-10-16

In this article, the main determinants of experiences and perceptions of corruption in the Russian regions are analyzed. The research focuses on evaluating the determinants of corruption among ordinary people and business representatives in three regions of Russia. The main objectives of the research are: to reveal the relationship of individual characteristics and attitudes toward corruption with citizens’ actual experiences and perceptions of corruption; to learn how experiences and perceptions of corruption influence each other. The main conclusion is that the experience of corruption and its perception are interrelated. Those members of both the general public and the business community who perceive the prevalence of corruption to be high report experiencing corrupt practices more often than those who see a lower frequency of corruption. People who justify corruption are more likely to report encountering bribery and other low-level corruption practices. For business corruption, tolerance of corruption shows a significant link with perception of corruption, but not with real experiences of corruption. Social learning theory and victimization theory can explain the interdependence of perceptions and experiences of corruption in the Russian regions. The indicators of both perception and experience of corruption in the research can be used as indirect measures of corruption. Their interrelation in the same survey may also indicate their validity as instruments for measuring corruption.

Down the banking hole

Peter Premrl — 2024-10-16

Purpose

The aim of the paper was to analyze who was responsible for the deterioration of the Slovenian banking sector to the degree, that the 2008 financial crisis almost destroyed the sector and international bailout was on the horizon.

Design/methodology/approach

Literature review, where a specific focus was given to reports from law enforcement agencies and commissions investigating banking practices, were deepened with a qualitative empirical study. To gain insight into the reasons why this situation unfolded, ten structured interviews were done, and interviewees included experts with experience in the fields of prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution of economic crime, bad credit management, central banking, parliamentary committee management, forensic investigations, investigative journalism, and experts with academic knowledge in law and economics.

Findings

Five different investigations looked into the behaviour of banking sector actors pre-, mid-, and after the 2008 financial crisis. They found that behaviours ranged from negligence to criminal acts. And the findings from the interviews show that the perpetrators were people of high social status with great social influence, which is why people are often not willing to testify against them. The main reason on the detection and prosecution side, however, was criminal investigators, prosecutors, judges, and others had fears of retaliation from their superiors, losing their jobs and raising their heads above the parapets and being publicly lambasted in the media.

Originality

This study is the only one that has so far provided an insight in the issues of deterioration of Slovenian banking sector from the criminological and criminal investigative standpoint.

Keywords: Financial crime, Banking sector, Investigation, White-collar crime

Participatory budgeting and the collaborative governance movement on the Hungarian local government level

Éva Kovács — 2024-10-16

This paper aims to provide a comprehensive analysis of participatory budgeting (PB) practices in Hungary by exploring the experiences of three local governments. The research specifically investigates the environmental conditions conducive to PB adoption, internal organizational factors influencing its success and the short- and long-term outcomes of the process. Although in well-developed democracies attributed with active local communities has a long tradition in participation and cooperation between government and citizens, the Hungarian context offers a unique examination of participatory budgeting (PB) due to the developing civil sector and historical mistrust between government and civil society. However, in the context of increasing governmental centralization, local initiatives advocating for citizen-driven budgets are emerging. This research explores the feasibility of implementing participatory budgeting in this challenging environment. The interplay of a fledgling civil sector, entrenched scepticism, and centralization provides a distinctive backdrop for understanding PB dynamics in Hungary.

‘Sympathy for the devil’

Rudolf Metz — 2024-10-16

Populist politicians such as Viktor Orbán are masters at harnessing intense and polarizing moral emotions: they stigmatize the enemies of the people, offer their community protection as self-proclaimed heroes, and at the same time, othering and moral transgressing trigger emotional overreactions from opponents. This article draws on a new analytical framework that incorporates theories of social labeling (moral panic and euphoria, moral entrepreneurship) and heroic/charismatic leadership to explore this multifaceted and antagonistic emotional relationship associated with populists. The theoretical reasoning suggests that these emotional dynamics define the moral cornerstones and boundaries of populist identity politics. Based on an analysis of four illustrative Hungarian cases – the migration crisis, anti-gender politics, the Authorisation Act during the coronavirus pandemic, and Fidesz’s expulsion from the European People’s Party – the article shows that populists can follow different paths to become charismatic heroes in the eyes of his supporters, while others still see them as folk devils due to their controversial moral entrepreneurship.

Understanding right-wing populists’ anti-abortion politics in Turkey

Melehat Kutun — 2024-10-16

This study investigates how symbolic violence is shaping anti-abortion stances associated with legitimising right-wing populist policies. The prominent questions are as follows: What are the institutional and politico-administrative mechanisms that are impacting anti-abortion politics in terms of material and symbolic violence? How and to what extent does anti-abortion politics influence the interplay between symbolic and material state violence? The study argues that reproduction-centred policies and material and symbolic violence have intensified through anti-abortion politics in the discursive context of the social reproduction crisis in Turkey. It explores the institutional actions and the legitimation mechanisms of anti-abortion policies in relation to the penetration of right-wing populist politics after the authoritarian turn of 2010. This qualitative case study uses critical discourse analysis. It interprets the public speeches of representatives of the government and documentary data concerning the ruling party’s programmes, development plans and relevant legislation. The research provides a gendered perspective on the anti-abortion policies that anchor right-wing populism in terms of the crisis of social reproduction. It also contributes to critical state theory and pre-existing feminist scholarship on right-wing populism.

We are civil society!

Ludmila Böhmová — 2024-10-16

The study expands on the current debate about post-socialist civil society and social movements, specifically in Croatia. Taking the strategic practices of the Croatian feminist movement in relation to the right to abortion in the last decade as the research unit, it employs the conception of post-socialist civil societies, focuses on the practices of civil society, and differentiates between contentious and compliant practices regardless of the form of organisation or engagement. The study examines whether the strategic practices of the Croatian feminist movement have changed in the last decade and, if so, which factors have played the most significant role. The study is based on a critical content analysis of interviews with the actors themselves and draws on their interpretations of the strategic practices. It finds that the Croatian feminist movement has, in the last decade, rethought the dominant compliant strategic practices inherent in the nonprofit sector and the organisations within it and has turned more towards contentious practices. The research described in the paper finds that there are three dominant factors behind the rethinking of the strategic practice: two external – the growing prominence of the conservative movement and the new expected abortion law – and one internal: a generational shift.

Authoritarianism and civil society: Legal restrictions on Human Rights CSOs

Izabella Deák — 2024-10-16

New types of authoritarian regimes attempt to create the illusion of democracy. They therefore seek to restrict the establishment and activities of CSOs not through outright bans, but through the adoption of laws and regulations designed to systematically and methodically impede the operation of human rights CSOs. This paper, based on empirical research, classifies and analyses the registration and re-registration procedures that restrict the freedom of association of human rights CSOs, as well as the legislation that imposes registration or re-registration requirements on organisations designated as “foreign agents.” Additionally, it assesses the proportion in which democratic and authoritarian regimes use these restrictive mechanisms. The results show that the restrictions examined are predominantly used in authoritarian regimes.

Public debate about the model change in Hungarian higher education: The representation of radical changes in university governance in Hungary in politically opposing online newspapers between 2019 and 2021

Zsuzsanna Géring — 2024-10-16

The Hungarian higher education (HE) system went through a transformation, the so-called “model change” in the last years. During this process, the majority of public HE institutions were transformed into institutions maintained by private foundations. This paper focuses on the media representation of this transformation by analysing all relevant articles about the transformation (169 in total), published between 2019 and 2021 from two of the most active online journals on the topic representing the main opposite political sides (mno.hu and hvg.hu). Our analysis reveals the main actors as well as the arguments for and against the model change. The media representation in the Hungarian context is particularly important because there was not any governmental White Paper about the process. Therefore, Hungarian media served as the primary source of information to the public about the goals (and later the critiques) of the model change. However, the inner structures of the pros and cons expose how the two sides talk at cross-purposes, with minimal reactions to the arguments of the ‘other side’. This resulted in „monologizing” instead of any real dialogue.

Thinking citizenship through lived experiences of highly skilled migrants in Budapest

Pınar Dilan Sönmez Gioftsios — 2024-10-16

This study aims to understand and explain the concept of citizenship by analyzing the lived experiences of highly skilled migrants reflecting on their everyday transnational lives in the urban setting of Budapest. Based on the discourse analysis of 30 semi-structured interviews conducted in Budapest in the Fall of 2022, the study thinks through lived citizenship experiences to understand how and why these experiences matter for the formation of subjective citizenship understanding. This study suggests that the concept of lived citizenship embodies a complex narrative of everyday socio-economic, socio-cultural, and emotional experiences that go beyond what the legal status depicts. Citizenship experiences of highly skilled migrants present a process of negotiating cultural and moral cosmopolitanism with constructive patriotism in everyday lives in the urban context. The study advances the thinking on the foundation, manifestations, and operationalization of lived citizenship as experiences of belonging and coexistence, presenting a unique contribution to the production of knowledge on highly skilled migration in Hungary. This article proposes that citizenship entails a complex relational dimension and includes a life-long learning process with continual meaning-making through life experiences that transcends the consequences of the legal status within a given nation-state.

The perception of meaningful work by employed and self-employed workers in the sphere of education

Natalia Krylova — 2024-10-16

The collection of studies on meaningful work is still quite fragmented and lacks resumptive theoretical models that can be applied to various employment statuses. This article examines the meaningful work phenomenon for both employed and self-employed workers using qualitative data. Drawing on 16 in-depth semi-structured interviews with school teachers and self-employed private tutors in Russia, the analysis demonstrates the nature of meaningful work constructed by employment status. Different institutional frameworks form institutional legitimacy, professional community, the final product of work and the prestige of occupation. The article’s primary theoretical contribution is the development of a theoretical model that describes the multifaceted and impermanent nature of meaningful work. The practical implications include the revelation of prominent differences among workers having different employment statuses, which is a solid foundation for future attempts in conducting quantitative research.