Leida Ruvina - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Leida Ruvina

Research paper thumbnail of Europeanization and Integration as Matters of Perception: Social Movements in a Theorized European Union Context

The International Journal of the Humanities: Annual Review

This article examines the concept of Europeanization from a Cognitive Constructivist approach bey... more This article examines the concept of Europeanization from a Cognitive Constructivist approach beyond New Institutionalisms in Integration theories. The objective is to review the concept of EU integration as a resource for Europeanization, democratic culture, and institutions rather than a political consequence from the economic spillover. Referring to levels of sociological knowledge, ontology is assumed as the foundation of epistemology, which directs to empirical observations. The empirical grounding is then provided by considering significant interdisciplinary areas of Integration Theories and communication studies by adequately acknowledging existing literature on how Europeanization is conceptualized and by anchoring theoretical framework to events of societal mobilization in three nonmember states with European integration prospects. In the conceptual modeling of the article, cognitive concepts related to Integration Theories are used to help the reader understand and test the subject of Europeanization through the Norbert Elias model of integrating disciplinary perspectives and micro-macro level and theory-method-data. By relating the smallest parts (such as words in an actual discourse) to the largest wholes (such as general theories, social institutions, historical periods, and civilizations), the explanatory logic concludes that in representative democracies with autocratic tendencies, Europeanization is conceptualized as something to struggle and fight for rather than an automatic outcome. The effort to bring historical evidences from the ground through media reports and direct testimony of the events, in a comparative approach, aims to provide a more complete framework on recent events occurred almost contemporarily. The cases of the Albanian “November Movement,” Ukrainian “EuroMaiden,” and Turkish “Gezi Protests” are chosen for their assumed and proven similitude of new political actors such as civil society, protesters, investigative and social media, and human rights international organizations or observers present in domestic environment. The article demonstrates the role played by assumptions, emotions, and instincts in building theoretical perspectives of European integration in both economic and political terms. On the other hand, it recommends that the interchanging of the New Institutionalisms as suggested by Hall and Taylor may be the appropriate approach to understand local events and the influence played by the sociopolitical context in Integration Theory and the concept of Europeanization.

Research paper thumbnail of Arms up, Guns down. Analyzing the Clash between the Narratives of State and Media Actors on Light Weapons Control in Albania (2017)

European Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies

The objective of this paper is to reflect on the relation between Communication studies and Secur... more The objective of this paper is to reflect on the relation between Communication studies and Security issues, by fitting particular developments into a larger scheme. In my hypothesis, public order and security can never be an exclusive duty of State Police alone, but a joint attempt for common goals. The institutional identity of the Police or Ministry of Interior itself is constituted by their purpose (why they exist), their brand (how they are perceived by others) and their culture (how members interact and work within them). Nevertheless, popular culture and mass media play an important role in effective institutional public communication. The challenge is to prevent, identify and manage incompatible or opposite messages promoted in the content managed by governmental and media authorities of a country, on the same topic, to the same audience, at the same time. By analyzing the behavioral communication and reflecting on how media exposures skew already available mental models to ...

Research paper thumbnail of Science as Interdisciplinary Analysis of Temporary and Unstable Features, and Norbert Elias’ Relational Perspective of Fear, Violence and State

European Journal of Social Science Education and Research

This article aims to reflect on some views on science by Social Theory and Cultural Analysis, whi... more This article aims to reflect on some views on science by Social Theory and Cultural Analysis, which have had their resonance across the biological, physical and social sciences on the topic, without easily fitting into the dominant sociological tradition. For this purpose, the focus of the analysis is upon the contributions made in social theory and cultural analysis by the American anthropologist Clifford Geertz as opposed to the logical positivism, and by the German sociologist Norbert Elias as confirmed by the Belgian physical chemist Ilya Prigogine. By defining culture as a shared system of intersubjective symbols and meanings, a science of culture has been considered in terms of interdisciplinary analysis of temporary and unstable features; little–predictable at all levels of physical evolution, social organization, and psychological process. In contrast to classical science, whose views emphasized stability and order, Elias has found in nature the relations between biological,...

Research paper thumbnail of "Arms up, Guns down. Analyzing the Clash between the Narratives of State and Media Actors on Light Weapons Control in Albania (2017)"

EJIS European Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies, 2019

The objective of this paper is to reflect on the relation between Communication studies and Secur... more The objective of this paper is to reflect on the relation between Communication studies and Security issues, by fitting particular developments into a larger scheme. In my hypothesis, public order and security can never be an exclusive duty of State Police alone, but a joint attempt for common goals. The institutional identity of the Police or Ministry of Interior itself is constituted by their purpose (why they exist), their brand (how they are perceived by others) and their culture (how members interact and work within them). Nevertheless, popular culture and mass media play an important role in effective institutional public communication. The challenge is to prevent, identify and manage incompatible or opposite messages promoted in the content managed by governmental and media authorities of a country, on the same topic, to the same audience, at the same time. By analyzing the behavioral communication and reflecting on how media exposures skew already available mental models to affect judgments, beliefs, and attitudes, I expect to provide a more complete framework on events occurred almost contemporarily, and to contribute in narrative-based persuasion strategies applied by governmental institutions in the future in Albania, suggesting Grunig's systemic approach of Public Relation. In the following work I will construct the media narratives related to light weapons control in the Republic of Albania in 2017, and deconstruct the two incompatible narrative-based strategies in this regard. They demonstrate the need to harmonize the production or diffusion of public narratives and content on specific public order and security strategies.

Research paper thumbnail of Europeanization and Integration as Matters of Perception Social Movements in a Theorized European Union Context

The International Journal of the Humanities: Annual Review, 2017

This article examines the concept of Europeanization from a Cognitive Constructivist approach bey... more This article examines the concept of Europeanization from a Cognitive Constructivist approach beyond New Institutionalisms in Integration theories. The objective is to review the concept of EU integration as a resource for Europeanization, democratic culture, and institutions rather than a political consequence from the economic spillover. Referring to levels of sociological knowledge, ontology is assumed as the foundation of epistemology, which directs to empirical observations. The empirical grounding is then provided by considering significant interdisciplinary areas of Integration Theories and communication studies by adequately acknowledging existing literature on how Europeanization is conceptualized and by anchoring theoretical framework to events of societal mobilization in three nonmember states with European integration prospects. In the conceptual modeling of the article, cognitive concepts related to Integration Theories are used to help the reader understand and test the subject of Europeanization through the Norbert Elias model of integrating disciplinary perspectives and micro-macro level and theory-method-data. By relating the smallest parts (such as words in an actual discourse) to the largest wholes (such as general theories, social institutions, historical periods, and civilizations), the explanatory logic concludes that in representative democracies with autocratic tendencies, Europeanization is conceptualized as something to struggle and fight for rather than an automatic outcome. The effort to bring historical evidences from the ground through media reports and direct testimony of the events, in a comparative approach, aims to provide a more complete framework on recent events occurred almost contemporarily. The cases of the Albanian “November Movement,” Ukrainian “EuroMaiden,” and Turkish “Gezi Protests” are chosen for their assumed and proven similitude of new political actors such as civil society, protesters, investigative and social media, and human rights international organizations or observers present in domestic environment. The article demonstrates the role played by assumptions, emotions, and instincts in building theoretical perspectives of European integration in both economic and political terms. On the other hand, it recommends that the interchanging of the New Institutionalisms as suggested by Hall and Taylor may be the appropriate approach to understand local events and the influence played by the sociopolitical context in Integration Theory and the concept of Europeanization.

Research paper thumbnail of Europeanization and Integration as Matters of Perception: Social Movements in a Theorized European Union Context

The International Journal of the Humanities: Annual Review

This article examines the concept of Europeanization from a Cognitive Constructivist approach bey... more This article examines the concept of Europeanization from a Cognitive Constructivist approach beyond New Institutionalisms in Integration theories. The objective is to review the concept of EU integration as a resource for Europeanization, democratic culture, and institutions rather than a political consequence from the economic spillover. Referring to levels of sociological knowledge, ontology is assumed as the foundation of epistemology, which directs to empirical observations. The empirical grounding is then provided by considering significant interdisciplinary areas of Integration Theories and communication studies by adequately acknowledging existing literature on how Europeanization is conceptualized and by anchoring theoretical framework to events of societal mobilization in three nonmember states with European integration prospects. In the conceptual modeling of the article, cognitive concepts related to Integration Theories are used to help the reader understand and test the subject of Europeanization through the Norbert Elias model of integrating disciplinary perspectives and micro-macro level and theory-method-data. By relating the smallest parts (such as words in an actual discourse) to the largest wholes (such as general theories, social institutions, historical periods, and civilizations), the explanatory logic concludes that in representative democracies with autocratic tendencies, Europeanization is conceptualized as something to struggle and fight for rather than an automatic outcome. The effort to bring historical evidences from the ground through media reports and direct testimony of the events, in a comparative approach, aims to provide a more complete framework on recent events occurred almost contemporarily. The cases of the Albanian “November Movement,” Ukrainian “EuroMaiden,” and Turkish “Gezi Protests” are chosen for their assumed and proven similitude of new political actors such as civil society, protesters, investigative and social media, and human rights international organizations or observers present in domestic environment. The article demonstrates the role played by assumptions, emotions, and instincts in building theoretical perspectives of European integration in both economic and political terms. On the other hand, it recommends that the interchanging of the New Institutionalisms as suggested by Hall and Taylor may be the appropriate approach to understand local events and the influence played by the sociopolitical context in Integration Theory and the concept of Europeanization.

Research paper thumbnail of Arms up, Guns down. Analyzing the Clash between the Narratives of State and Media Actors on Light Weapons Control in Albania (2017)

European Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies

The objective of this paper is to reflect on the relation between Communication studies and Secur... more The objective of this paper is to reflect on the relation between Communication studies and Security issues, by fitting particular developments into a larger scheme. In my hypothesis, public order and security can never be an exclusive duty of State Police alone, but a joint attempt for common goals. The institutional identity of the Police or Ministry of Interior itself is constituted by their purpose (why they exist), their brand (how they are perceived by others) and their culture (how members interact and work within them). Nevertheless, popular culture and mass media play an important role in effective institutional public communication. The challenge is to prevent, identify and manage incompatible or opposite messages promoted in the content managed by governmental and media authorities of a country, on the same topic, to the same audience, at the same time. By analyzing the behavioral communication and reflecting on how media exposures skew already available mental models to ...

Research paper thumbnail of Science as Interdisciplinary Analysis of Temporary and Unstable Features, and Norbert Elias’ Relational Perspective of Fear, Violence and State

European Journal of Social Science Education and Research

This article aims to reflect on some views on science by Social Theory and Cultural Analysis, whi... more This article aims to reflect on some views on science by Social Theory and Cultural Analysis, which have had their resonance across the biological, physical and social sciences on the topic, without easily fitting into the dominant sociological tradition. For this purpose, the focus of the analysis is upon the contributions made in social theory and cultural analysis by the American anthropologist Clifford Geertz as opposed to the logical positivism, and by the German sociologist Norbert Elias as confirmed by the Belgian physical chemist Ilya Prigogine. By defining culture as a shared system of intersubjective symbols and meanings, a science of culture has been considered in terms of interdisciplinary analysis of temporary and unstable features; little–predictable at all levels of physical evolution, social organization, and psychological process. In contrast to classical science, whose views emphasized stability and order, Elias has found in nature the relations between biological,...

Research paper thumbnail of "Arms up, Guns down. Analyzing the Clash between the Narratives of State and Media Actors on Light Weapons Control in Albania (2017)"

EJIS European Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies, 2019

The objective of this paper is to reflect on the relation between Communication studies and Secur... more The objective of this paper is to reflect on the relation between Communication studies and Security issues, by fitting particular developments into a larger scheme. In my hypothesis, public order and security can never be an exclusive duty of State Police alone, but a joint attempt for common goals. The institutional identity of the Police or Ministry of Interior itself is constituted by their purpose (why they exist), their brand (how they are perceived by others) and their culture (how members interact and work within them). Nevertheless, popular culture and mass media play an important role in effective institutional public communication. The challenge is to prevent, identify and manage incompatible or opposite messages promoted in the content managed by governmental and media authorities of a country, on the same topic, to the same audience, at the same time. By analyzing the behavioral communication and reflecting on how media exposures skew already available mental models to affect judgments, beliefs, and attitudes, I expect to provide a more complete framework on events occurred almost contemporarily, and to contribute in narrative-based persuasion strategies applied by governmental institutions in the future in Albania, suggesting Grunig's systemic approach of Public Relation. In the following work I will construct the media narratives related to light weapons control in the Republic of Albania in 2017, and deconstruct the two incompatible narrative-based strategies in this regard. They demonstrate the need to harmonize the production or diffusion of public narratives and content on specific public order and security strategies.

Research paper thumbnail of Europeanization and Integration as Matters of Perception Social Movements in a Theorized European Union Context

The International Journal of the Humanities: Annual Review, 2017

This article examines the concept of Europeanization from a Cognitive Constructivist approach bey... more This article examines the concept of Europeanization from a Cognitive Constructivist approach beyond New Institutionalisms in Integration theories. The objective is to review the concept of EU integration as a resource for Europeanization, democratic culture, and institutions rather than a political consequence from the economic spillover. Referring to levels of sociological knowledge, ontology is assumed as the foundation of epistemology, which directs to empirical observations. The empirical grounding is then provided by considering significant interdisciplinary areas of Integration Theories and communication studies by adequately acknowledging existing literature on how Europeanization is conceptualized and by anchoring theoretical framework to events of societal mobilization in three nonmember states with European integration prospects. In the conceptual modeling of the article, cognitive concepts related to Integration Theories are used to help the reader understand and test the subject of Europeanization through the Norbert Elias model of integrating disciplinary perspectives and micro-macro level and theory-method-data. By relating the smallest parts (such as words in an actual discourse) to the largest wholes (such as general theories, social institutions, historical periods, and civilizations), the explanatory logic concludes that in representative democracies with autocratic tendencies, Europeanization is conceptualized as something to struggle and fight for rather than an automatic outcome. The effort to bring historical evidences from the ground through media reports and direct testimony of the events, in a comparative approach, aims to provide a more complete framework on recent events occurred almost contemporarily. The cases of the Albanian “November Movement,” Ukrainian “EuroMaiden,” and Turkish “Gezi Protests” are chosen for their assumed and proven similitude of new political actors such as civil society, protesters, investigative and social media, and human rights international organizations or observers present in domestic environment. The article demonstrates the role played by assumptions, emotions, and instincts in building theoretical perspectives of European integration in both economic and political terms. On the other hand, it recommends that the interchanging of the New Institutionalisms as suggested by Hall and Taylor may be the appropriate approach to understand local events and the influence played by the sociopolitical context in Integration Theory and the concept of Europeanization.