Academicus International Scientific Journal

11-15

Authors: Carin-Isabel Knoop

The dislocation of the Pandemic caused social convulsions around the world. The middle and ruling classes seem to have rediscovered humans – essential workers, employees, members of underrepresented minorities, and children. In our rush to atone our sins and redress imbalances, we are not stopping to define words nor, as the pragmatists would want us to, think through what our moral precepts mean in practice. Nor do we have the tools in accounting, the “language of business,” to capture our efforts. However, teams that do not take the time to establish ground rules and standard definitions often get a faster start but don’t always do the best work nor have the most impact. Let’s give ourselves better changes.

39-59

Authors: . Fernando Lopez-Alves

What is the future of liberal democracy? Is the “liberal” ingredient of 21st century democracy compatible with its “demos”? Are developed democracies more equalitarian and less stratified than other regimes? Or are present day democracies evolving into something different that needs a new definition? By the early 1990s liberal democracy appeared to have become the dominant system at a global scale. The hope of citizens, scholars, and observers was that the stride toward broader democratization and inclusion would continue. It did, but as this paper argues, the forms adopted by democratic regimes, especially under the fourth industrial revolution, are not necessarily democratic. Rather, liberal democracies have created a new aristocracy that includes high tech monopolies, extremely skilled professionals, and a selected intelligentsia that from social media, conglomerates, and many times Hollywood, supports this new stratified version of the democratic polity. Family dynasties, clientele networks, and mechanisms of reward and punishment reminds us of the pseudo democracies of the late 19th century. Surely the dwindling middle class in developed democracies still have some consumer power based on credit. Global markets offer many more available consumer goods than in the past, creating the illusion that all is going well. Comparatively, however, democracies are doing worse. As this paper shows, 21st century liberal democracies have concentrated wealth in fewer hands than in the recent past, have favored power centralization especially in the executive branch, have stimulated the formation of giant high-tech monopolies, and have generated more rigid forms of social stratification. Liberal democracies, therefore, are weaking, in many cases as the logical consequence of the natural evolution of the liberal doctrine, and in most cases because of profound changes at the global scale. Citizens’ confidence in their elected representatives has been in the decline for a long time. The increasing influence of populist nationalism is an indicator that confidence in traditional politicians continues to deteriorate. Democracy could not be democratic without the popular vote, but it has been precisely the popular vote that has empowered populist nationalist leaders, both from the right and the left. There is not very much that democracies can do about the coming to power via the ballot box of leaders who can rework the system in their favor and, in some cases, destroy it. As the paper shows, changes in the international system of power have not been favorable to liberal democracies, adding to its burdens. They are no longer the optimal model of choice, especially in the less developed world. Finally, I claim that the broken promises of political elites that have traditionally provoked voters’ apathy and loss of trust, have, In the 21st century, created new unintended consequences. They have generated illusions of entitlement and deservingness that, especially young voters, have converted into a sort anti-democratic culture that cares less for the collective and much more for themselves.

78-84

Authors: Emanuel Pietrobon

The Balkans are one of the main stages of the so-called Cold War 2.0 between the United States and the Russo-Chinese axis, but, to a greater extent, they are also an important battlefront of the broader great power competition, a hegemonic confrontation fought by a number of European and non-European powers and only partly tied to the aforementioned Cold War 2.0. Just like in the past, the Balkans keep being the powder keg of Europe, but this time, due to a combination of historical events and demographic changes, the veridical beating heart of the region is no longer Serbia, it’s a rising geopolitical order based on and centered on Albania: the Eagles’ Belt.

109-123

Authors: Antonio Pehar

The article deals with the religious and confessional identity of the population in Bosnia and Herzegovina at the time of Ottoman and then the Austro-Hungarian authorities, and it is trying to define the elements of nationality in their identity. The reasons for initiating the rounding-up of three national identities in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Muslim/Bosniak, Croatian and Serbian) and not a common one are also highlighted. It identifies the external factors as well as the circumstances of the internal dynamics of society that have influenced the formation of the nation on the dominant principle of religious/confessional affiliation of the population.

130-158

Authors: Carlos Parra, Nanci Geriguis-Mina

In reference to cultural patterns in collectivistic societies, teaching and learning are greatly influenced by the teachers’ collectivistic or individualistic cultural orientation (Kaur & Noman, 2015). However, in dealing with both audiences and their teaching platforms, a chasm appears between methodologies and their applications since collectivistic societies are reluctant to accept methodologies perceived as mere Western innovations. In other words, a seemingly pedagogical incongruence arises where direct individualistic Western influence is perceived as unsuitable to a collectivistic mindset. One must keep in mind that family members in collectivist societies, who view themselves as part of a group rather than independent individuals, seem to feel more interdependent and mutually responsible for each other. In addition to Vygotski’s assertion that children’s cognitive development is enriched through social interaction with more skilled individuals (1978), Bandura (1982) emphasizes that the degree to which learners believe in their own self-efficacy influences their functioning cognitively, motivationally, emotionally, and their decision making process. Also, self-efficacy is perceived to accelerate the process of adapting to a new environment while learners adopt new cultural practices and consent to norms and expectations. In our exploration, second-language learners (SLLs) from collectivistic societies advance academically—English as a second language included—within the frame of sociocultural theory, since they seem to be motivated by their culturallyinduced sense of obligation to honor their parents and other group members. These SLLs are positively influenced by their prior experiences with the group’s perceptions and expectations of their capability to learn an additional language (Bandura & Schunk, 1981; Schunk, 1991). Our research seems to indicate that this outcome is significantly affected by the self-efficacy and self-reliance produced by prior successes in challenging tasks that may have been mandated by the SLL’s elders. In addition, SLLs also seem to succeed in accomplishing more challenging goals as they observe their families’ values and traditions even when they are in a society that enforces individualistic values.

174-183

Authors: Jerca Legan Cvikl

Gabrielle Bonheur “Coco” Chanel is a creative icon who has freed the ‘new’ woman from the millennium of dictated dress codes, stereotypical behaviors and clichéd sexual and status simplification. The little black dress has become synonymous of sophistication, to the femininity she gave the character flavor of relaxation and empowered women with timeless clothing pieces and equipped them with inspiring pieces of jewelry, distinctive decorative accessories and bold fragrances. Since then, with the Chanel fashion women were able to step sovereignly and freely aside of male. Coco resisted the reservation of clothing and decorative pieces and fabrics as exclusively masculine in order to help revolutionary women on their journey to a more a more useful elegance and a more noticeable fatality. Without any doubt she succeeded. She gave the new woman what she could not have before: practicality, youthfulness, timelessness and freedom, which was often scandalous at the time of her creation. But it has paid off with a revolution in the clothing industry and, more importantly, with a historic step in liberating the modern woman

199-213

Authors: António dos Santos Queirós

The contribution of the environmental philosophy to the XX and XXI centuries philosophy renovation and their capacity to be applied to all aspects of social life is the core of this essay. The history of philosophy on the West is focused on the human condition, the environmental philosophy drive its thought to a global view of biodiversity and geodiversity, enlarged by the concept of biosphere. The dominant perspective of the modern philosophy set the morale in the order of the rules and social conventions and leave the ethics on the field of personal experience. Analyzing the concept of Kantian reason, and its ethic’s corollaries, this essay propose develop them to a new concept, “Environmental Reason”. Conceptualized as a new categorical imperative to the men’s action, beyond the principle that prescribe that we must conform individual acts with a universal law, configuring the human conduct within the limits that safeguard the continuity of life, but also the intrinsic values of earth and its biodiversity and geodiversity. A new perspective ethics founded in the principles of the critique of anthropocentrism and the critique of ethnocentrism represent a new ontology, and.a new epistemology, that could lead to a new ethics universal theory.

226-229

Authors: Michele Marsonet

The Polish philosopher Kazimierz Ajdukiewicz adopted the notion of “conceptual apparatus”, which is very similar to the idea of “conceptual scheme” put forward by Donald Davidson, Willard V. Quine, Nicholas Rescher and others. Ajdukiewicz’s theses are, in this regard, very important although less known, and he treated cognitive processes as inseparably connected with language.

9-20

Authors: Franco Ferrarotti

Arriving to the «new world» across the Atlantic Ocean from England, the Founding Fathers, as an act of thankfullness to God’s guidance, called the United States the «God’s Country». On the other hand, serious scholars would call them the «unfinished country» and quite a few political scientists would talk about «our more perfect Union», touching on the variety and contradictions of the Two-centuries and a half old «nation of nations».

41-51

Authors: Enrico Gandolfi, Sofia Gandolfi

This proposal focuses on the multifaceted interplay between video games, connectiveness, and online communities in a time of emergency; COVID-19 has presented challenges for teenagers, forcing them to re-mediate their interactions with peers. Digital entertainment has been frequently accused to be a bearer of negative attitudes and anti-social behaviors, but there is also relevant evidence about how video games can foster bonding and inclusion. Nevertheless, updated lenses are needed for understanding the impact of the pandemic on playing and vice versa; in other words, video games can become a lens through which we can understand how teenagers and young adults experience and see the world around them, especially during these turbulent times. Moreover, video games are increasingly experienced in multiple ways, from watching live shows on Twitch.tv to discussing games on Reddit; as such, this additional layer must be investigated too for situating the impact of gaming practices on social and individual schemes. This article intends to provide a snapshot of how this medium can be used as a catalyst for social research, looking at its consumption but also at the social halo it conveys. More specifically, an ethnographic approach has been chosen for providing an intensive analysis of how the acclaimed video game Animal Crossing was perceived and used as a socializing tool by a teenager.

72-90

Authors: Markus Mykkänen, Neil Freshwater

This paper provides a comparative analysis of current Finnish and Scottish think tanks and reviews how think tanks in these countries have evolved, how think tanks seek to influence decision making and engage with their stakeholders. To address the ways of influence this paper looks how Finnish and Scottish think tanks describe themselves and how they use publications in their advocacy. Conducted content analysis indicates that usually registered association based Finnish think tanks are generally more research-focused organisations, who overall deploy more research publications for advocacy than the company based Scottish think tanks. Findings also reveal that the number of think tanks in both countries has greatly increased in the last two decades due to the political challenges with European Union and national politics. The paper provides a new approach to study think tanks in national contexts.

110-136

Authors: Nizamettin Doğar

The question of whether a single leader type will emerge as one of the possible effects of globalization has required research on the subject. In the context of culture, Hofsthede, Brodbeck et al, and GLOBE studies, revealing that different leadership characteristics come to the fore in different geographies with cultural influences, refuting the claim that a uniform leader model will emerge with globalization. Among the aforementioned studies, GLOBE studies went a little further and claimed that leadership is actually a function of culture. Leadership research in the Balkans, which is a tangle of cultures with its complex ethnic structure, is relatively less included in the literature. The main purpose of this article is; Despite this problem arising from the Cold War period, how the leadership styles are in the Balkans is to examine the relationship between Balkan style leadership and culture. At the same time, the article has a secondary purpose that questions whether the claim that “there is not a single Balkans” is also valid for leadership practices when it comes to culture. Literature review and observation method were used in the research. The observations mainly include the observations made in Albania between the years of 2012-2015. On the other hand,the literature review is based on the data obtained primarily from local studies about each country in the Balkans. The results obtained emphasize that when it comes to leadership in the Balkan countries, the first thing is that political leadership is understood, which draws attention to autocratic leadership from the socialist administration period. In the context of business leadership, it shows that autocratic leadership was effective in the 10-year transition period after the Cold War, and that transformational leadership began to come to the fore in the 2000s at varying speed and rate according to institutions and countries. As a result of the investigations, the article shows that quite similar leadership characteristics stand out for the Balkans, the culture of democracy has not yet fully settled in this context, the avoidance of uncertainty in social codes, the autocratic administration still has an important place as a reflection of cultural dimensions such as the distance of power, on the other hand, willingness to change with new generations, more democratic leadership expectations increase and transformational leadership comes to the fore with the change in geography.Although the article has limitations in terms of containing observations specific to one country, it supports the claims in terms of including the local research results of the countries and is considered to contribute to the literature for the Balkans where limited research is available.

142-155

Authors: George M. Aspridis, Louisa Pouliana

The period stretching from 1974 till now has been characterized as the most stable period of the political and administrative history of Greece. However, the appropriate organizational culture which can contribute to the creation of a strategic vision for Greek public administration has not yet been shaped. Therefore, the public sector is not efficient and productive. On the contrary, bureaucratic pathogenies are particularly prevalent. These pathogenies have been rendered even more intense during the economic crisis and the recent pandemic. It is necessary that the modern culture of public administration be focused on effective cooperation, the satisfaction of both citizens and administrative executives’ expectations, respect for the individuality and development of public sector executives, the enhancement of public services’ good reputation, assessment, communication and finally the implementation of the principles of ethics, integrity and legitimacy. The culture of a modern public administration should be based on the principles of new public management and electronic government. This article is based on the study of secondary sources, more specifically institutional texts, international and national organizations’ reports, studies, historical texts, as well as civil servants’ views. The conclusions are particularly significant and can spark off the change of the organizational culture in public administration.