Preliminary Programme

Wed 24 March
    11.00 - 12.15
    12.30 - 13.45
    14.30 - 15.45
    16.00 - 17.15

Thu 25 March
    11.00 - 12.15
    12.30 - 13.45
    14.30 - 15.45
    16.00 - 17.15

Fri 26 March
    11.00 - 12.15
    12.30 - 13.45
    14.30 - 15.45
    16.00 - 17.15

Sat 27 March
    11.00 - 12.15
    12.30 - 13.45
    14.30 - 15.45
    16.00 - 17.00

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Thursday 25 March 2021 11.00 - 12.15
E-5 POL19 Liberalism, Citizenship, and the Nation: Tensions in Evolving Political Cultures
E
Network: Politics, Citizenship, and Nations Chair: Izabela Dahl
Organizers: - Discussants: -
Mikolaj Banaszkiewicz : Liberal Model of Citizenship in Russia before 1917. Notes on the Influence of Western Political Thought on Russian Imperial Identity
The aim of this paper is to characterize the liberal model of citizenship, which was formed as a real (though ultimately unrealized) alternative in the pre-revolutionary Russia. Historiography, both Russian and Anglo-American, is dominated by the conviction that the category of citizenship - even as a political idea - does ... (Show more)
The aim of this paper is to characterize the liberal model of citizenship, which was formed as a real (though ultimately unrealized) alternative in the pre-revolutionary Russia. Historiography, both Russian and Anglo-American, is dominated by the conviction that the category of citizenship - even as a political idea - does not apply to Russian society before the Bolshevik Revolution. In the opinion of most researchers, the adequate term is subjectness - a term emphasizing the hegemony of political power in relation to the population. This view results from the erroneous juxtaposition of liberal ideals of civil society and the aspirations of the Russian superpower. Meanwhile, there is no logical contradiction between territorial expansionism and the desire to base socio-political relations on liberal principles. Russian liberalism was an illustration of the symbiosis of imperial thinking in the sphere of foreign policy and progressive (i.e. liberal-democratic) ideals in the sphere of internal policy.
The liberal model of citizenship in Russia was not just an intellectual experiment aimed at testing Western solutions in Russian conditions. It was much more a response to the challenge posed to the Russian Empire by the growing nationalism of the western periphery. The national idea in the conquered ethnic territories of Finland and Poland, the defence of the separateness of the inhabitants of the Baltic provinces, and finally the awakened national aspirations of Ukrainians, Belarusians and Jews - all these in the long run threatened the power of Russia. The liberal response, in contrast to the conservative-nationalist one, focused on the inclusion of the non-Russian population into the imperial community on equal rights with the dominant Russian element. According to this vision, citizenship, based on respect for civil liberties in exchange for loyalty to the empire, was to be the bond between the inhabitants of a multinational and multi-confessional state.
The liberal variant of Russian imperial identity referred to the Western European canon of values. In the opinion of the Russian liberals, the Western models marked out a universal path of development that should be followed by Russia as well. A modernised Russian empire should become an attractive alternative for all groups of the population, including those subjugated by conquest. This perception of reality resulted from the mechanical transfer of the historical experience of Western Europe to the processes taking place in the Russian Empire. Excessive attachment to theoretical constructs resulted from the effort of several dozen years to transform foreign readings into prescriptions, while it was impossible to implement them until the first Russian revolution in 1905. However, not only the reluctance of the authorities but also the confrontation of nationalisms proved to be an obstacle to their implementation. This observation does not negate the observation that Western political thought served Russian liberals in redefining the imperial identity of the subject-citizen of pre-revolutionary Russia.
The paper is is a summary of the Readings of a Russian Liberal in the Second Half of the Nineteenth Century research grant financed by the National Science Centre, Poland (project no. 2016/21/D/HS3/02433). (Show less)

Annika Berg : Questioning the Narrative of Universal Suffrage: on Legal and Practical Voting Restrictions in Sweden after 1921
In 2018–2021, Sweden is officially celebrating the centenary of universal suffrage. When Swedish women finally got the right to vote in 1921, the struggle for suffrage was basically over. That is, according to the historical narratives that have prevailed. In an ongoing research project, financed by the Swedish Research Council, ... (Show more)
In 2018–2021, Sweden is officially celebrating the centenary of universal suffrage. When Swedish women finally got the right to vote in 1921, the struggle for suffrage was basically over. That is, according to the historical narratives that have prevailed. In an ongoing research project, financed by the Swedish Research Council, seven historians including myself strive to bring more nuances to that history. For, in Sweden as in many other countries, several groups were formally or practically excluded from voting also after the introduction of “universal suffrage” – and some still are. The expansion of voting rights was thus combined with efforts to control the effects of an extended democracy. Therefore, the reforms of 1918–1921 cannot be seen as a definitive democratic breakthrough. In our project, we make a broad empirical study of voting restrictions in legislation and practice, which, we hope, may also contribute to international discussions on the meanings of democracy. Using a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods, we study policy making and legislation as well as practices of inclusion and exclusion, scrutinizing both intentions and results. What happened in the century following 1921 should, we argue, be seen as an ongoing, non-linear process of democratization.

In my ESSHC paper, I will present some main findings from my own part of the study, which is focussed on two specific voting restrictions – one connected to felony, the other connected to the declaration of legal minority.

In Sweden, many criminals and former criminals had no voting rights up until 1937. These restrictions were linked to a special sanction, which constituted a modernized variant of older provisions on “defamation”, “loss of honour” and “loss of civic trust” that were associated with certain crimes. When the sanction was finally abolished in 1937, it was mainly due to a new, more prevention- and treatment-oriented view of correctional care that became dominant in Sweden during the first half of the 20th century. It clashed with an older view of crime and punishment, where the shame of being convicted was seen as a supplementary part of the sentence. According to this new view, the public mistrust created by preventing previously convicted criminals from voting was regarded as an obstacle to the reintegration of former criminals to full citizenship and productivity. (Still today there are a number of countries where convicted felons may lose their voting rights, including the USA.)

The second part of my study concentrates on the latest voting restriction to be abolished in Sweden, which pertained to adults that had been declared as legally minor. It was connected to meritocratic arguments about democratic maturity, rational thinking and sufficient knowledge as necessary conditions for suffrage, as well as to arguments that voters had to be independent. The restriction disappeared as a result of the fact that the possibility to declare people legally minor was abolished in Sweden in 1989. Only then was the right to vote extended to all adult Swedish citizens. (Show less)

Nives Rumenjak : Politics of Freedom in Multicultural Europe: Freedom of Religion and Freedom of Expression in the Visual Communication from Pre-National to Post-national Eras
What is the relationship between modern visual propaganda, nationalism, mass media, social media, and modern human rights? Were the fundamental human rights, like freedom of expression and freedom of religion, in clash in the modern and postmodern period in Europe? How these freedoms were negotiated and regulated in the politics ... (Show more)
What is the relationship between modern visual propaganda, nationalism, mass media, social media, and modern human rights? Were the fundamental human rights, like freedom of expression and freedom of religion, in clash in the modern and postmodern period in Europe? How these freedoms were negotiated and regulated in the politics of visual communication of the early European mass media or today, when social networks are the frenzy of borderless visual communication in Europe?

My paper will try to answer the addressed questions through combination of several scholarly approaches, in the first place through the lenses of international human rights, the ideas of the “Clash of Civilizations” and visual turn in International Relations, and historical account of the development of modern political cartooning in European political culture. My historical comparison of visual communication and political cartooning in the seminal multicultural sites in Europe will be focused on late 19the century Central and South East Europe (primarily Austria and Croatia) and 21st century Western Europe (primarily Denmark and France.)

My comparative exploration of freedoms of expression and religion through visual communication and political cartooning, from the pre-national to the post-national European multicultural sites, shows significant shift in the politics of freedoms and cartooning, thanks to more and more strict current European regulations of hate speech (as illegal racial, religious, ethnic or national discrimination) in offline and online media. However, the new European regulations equally well protects freedom of expression (online and off line), making the social media in current multicultural Europe a viable platform for free speech and ethically responsible cartooning. (Show less)



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