Human Action - Part Four, Chapter XV. The Market
Human Action - Part Four, Chapter XV. The Market
Keywords: The Characteristics of the Market Economy; Capital Goods and Capital; capitalism; The Sovereignty of the Consumers; competition;
More...Keywords: The Characteristics of the Market Economy; Capital Goods and Capital; capitalism; The Sovereignty of the Consumers; competition;
More...Keywords: multiple citizenship; social integration; boundary ethics; postnationalism,democratic theory.
The article focuses on multiple citizenship from the theoretical perspective in an attempt to seize the conceptual implications of this expanding phenomenon in relation to the nation and to democracy. We argue that the proliferation of multiple citizenship is likely to wear out democracy and the sovereign state, as multiple citizenship goes against the very logic of citizenship. There are however symptoms in Europe of this very problematic conceptual dimension of multiple citizenship which illustrate the social dissolution and the security dilemma brought up by this phenomenon, despite being regarded as the ultimate embodiment of democratic citizenship. Thus the study combines the conceptual analysis of multiple citizenship with the empirical evidence brought in support of the argument that multiple citizenship has a perverse effect on democracy, representing the dissolution of the bond between state and individual. We argue that the gradual expansion and acceptance of multiple citizenship in international law and in national law should be at least regarded with suspicion from the standpoint of political theory because of its undermining effect of western democracies which evolved as bounded political communities based on bounded citizenries in order to further democracy. In support of the argument the article mobilizes the literature on postnationalism, boundary ethics, liberal nationalism and democratic theory and attempts to bridge the legal dimension of citizenship (that is emphasized in the studies of multiple citizenship) and with the political dimension.
More...Keywords: traditionalism; history; ideology; religion; peasant; archetype; semănătorism; poporanism; Orthodoxism; protochronism;
Romanian pre-war and interwar traditionalism assumes the belief that the traditional village belongs to an archaic world. It is a world legitimated by faith, religion, therefore by sacred values, a world that is respectful of the original model, in the sense that it perpetuates this model, a world of rituals embedded in all gestures, a world where each act reveals itself as a ritual. Life does not mean survival, but organic living in the realm of mystery. The boycott of history has been completely assimilated by the ideological construction of an original, unique and fundamental anthropological model. The ideological model is founded on the rejection of reality, on the alleged penetration of the unique and real meaning of reality. Ideology transfers the ultimate conclusion of a militant and sometimes millenarian explanation to a kind of neutrally-considered history understood as a shapeless and degrading flow. History is excluded by falsification.
More...Keywords: Moesia Inferior; Tomis; epoca romană; monetăria greacă imperială; emisiune monetară; circulaţie monetară; iconografie; Roman epoch; Greek imperial coinage; monetary issue; monetary circulation; iconography
L’auteur présent un lot inédit de 60 monnaies tomitaines d’époque romaine de musée de Tulcea et Constanţa et d’une collection particulaire, qui s’échelonnent de Traiane à Gordiane III comme ça : monnaies pseudo-autonome : 9 ex. ; Traiane – 1 ex. ; Antonine le Pieux – 1 ex. ; Commode Auguste – 2 ex. ; Crispinne – 1 ex. ; Pertinax – 1 ex. ; Septime Severe – 2 ex. ; Caracalla – 3 ex. ; Plautilla – 1 ex. ; Geta – 4 ex. ; Elagaballe – 3 ex. ; Severe Alexandre – 10 ex. ; Maximine – 2 ex. ; Maxime – 1 ex. ; Gordiane III – 18 ex. Ces sont, en général, des monnaies connues dans les catalogues de spécialité, mais encore des types nouveaux ou des variantes aux types connus. Les monnaies de ce lot ont été trouvées à Valul lui Traian, Tuzla, Isaccea, Tomis (Constanţa), Bărăganu, Aegyssus (Tulcea), Kurt Baiîr, Crângu, Capidava, Enisala, Callatis (Mangalia), Malu Roşu, Dunăreni ; quelques- unes portent l’indication « le Nord de Dobroudja » ou « le Sud de Dobroudja ». La présentation de ce matériel inédit permit à l’auteur une esquisse de l’activité de l’hôtel de monnaie de Tomis dans l’époque romaine en partant du corpus des monnaies de Tomis (Regling) et de la littérature scientifique parue après ceci – découvertes des pièces isolées et en trésors, catalogues des collections etc.
More...Keywords: Georg Schuller von Schulenberg; travelogue; Cape Colony; Dutch East Indies; exotic peoples
Georg Schuller (aprox. 1670 - after 1742), the author of the oldest known travelogue written by a Transylvanian on South Africa and in Southeast Asia, is known not only for his spirit of adventure and his interest in the most diverse realities from distant regions (plants, animals, traditions, forms of social organization, social relations, public administration), but also for his reflections about what he saw and details that only a careful reader could apprehend, through an analysis whose key is the issue of Otherness. Such an approach also allows the reader to access the intellectual world of the author, a moderate and tolerant evangelical Christian. His conservative religious and political views, as well as his education were typical for the Transylvanian Saxon bourgeoisie of his period. He was familiar with the imagery of the Medieval bestiaries, with the works of the most famous poets and historians of the Greek and Roman Antiquity, but also with the Baroque discourse about cultural otherness and mores, as well as with narratives about the countries at the end of the - then known - world and the peoples who inhabited them.
More...Keywords: Chernobyl; aniversary; disaster; nuclear; Ukraine; Belarus; environment;
Thirty years ago, the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine exploded, directly resulting in several dozendeaths and the formation of a “radioactive cloud” that quickly disseminated over several regions of Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, and other European countries.
More...Keywords: Czech art; 19th century art; illustrated magazines; illustration; reproduction
Illustrated magazines are specific phenomenon in the 19th century culture. Especially between the 1860s and 1890s they published an enormous number of pictorial materials of diverse content and quality. The text deals with Czech artists whose work significantly influenced the visual aspect as well as the content of the magazines. Some of the names mentioned are František Bohumír Zvěřina, Adolf Liebscher or Luděk Marold. The final part of the text is devoted to the relation of image and text that created very complex interrelations within the magazine structure.
More...Keywords: jewish museum;Prague;nazism;
One of Prague’s most important tourist attractions is, without a doubt, the local Jewish museum, which attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors each year. Most of the visitors know about its existence from tourist guides or from friends or relatives who have already been to Prague; alternatively, they have come across the collections of the Prague Jewish Museum at their displays abroad. Aside from the well-preserved monuments in the former Jewish ghetto, the synagogues that house the museum’s exhibitions, and the museum’s diverse collections, what also may inspire some tourists to visit the museum is the legend surrounding the genesis of its collections during the Second World War. A general idea still prevails that the museum was founded at the behest of the Nazis who intended to create a ‘museum of an extinct race’ in Prague for propaganda purposes and cynically compelled the Jews of Prague themselves to carry out their goal; as if the Nazi authorities had not concealed their plans from the Jews during the war and as if the employees of the Prague Jewish community – who were entrusted with this task – were already aware of the result and the extent of the tragedy that befell European Jewry.
More...Keywords: Lithuanian glosses; 16th century; Lithuanian old texts; Lithuanian language;
In 2006, one of the authors of this text, Mariusz Lenczuk, spotted the unknown glosses in the rare incunabulum at the National Museum of Poland in Krakow, in the collection of Emeryk Hutten-Czapski (Muzeum Narodowe w Krakowie, Muzeum im. Emeryka Hutten-Czapskiego): Joannes Herolt, Liber Discipuli de Eruditione Christifidelium (Student's Book Concerning the Instruction of the Christian Faithful), Basel, not before 1485, 2°; call number: MNK XV 44.2 Later the other two authors — Wiesiaw Wydra and Giedrius Subačius—identified the language of the glosses (further—HGl) as Lithuanian. Very little is known about the author himself. "Johannes Herolt called Discipulus, a Dominican Friar of Basel who flourished during the first half of the fifteenth century." Since Herolt's pseudonym was Discipulus, the beginning of the title Liber Discipuli may mean that the book De Eruditione Christifidelium was written by the author Discipulus.
More...Keywords: Mongols; Coins; Mongolian language; Ciphers; Mongols; Administrators; Mongols-taxation; China; Monetary history;
Synthesising a wide and diverse range of primary and secondary sources, An Account of 13th Century Qubchir of the Mongol "Great Courts + examines the formation and implementation of a tax within the Mongolian army during the early, formative period of the Mongol Empire before 1227. The examination extends to the period of Qubilai Qayan’s victory over the Southern Song in 1276. Sino-Mongolian cultural contacts are also explored and examined in detail, especially the notion of a reign vs. national title for the Mongols after 1222. The centerpiece of the paper is a silver coin, Dachao tongbao, which reveals unique epigraphic and symbolic elements via ciphers that are described and attributed for the very first time.
More...Keywords: architecture;theory of architecture;Polish art;Duchy of Warsaw;Sebastian Sierakowski
More...Keywords: Scientific life; Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI;
Without a doubt, the bestowing of an honorary doctorate upon Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI was one of the exceptional events of the past academic year of 2014–2015. This was exceptional not only because of the recipient’s dignity, but also because this honor was given by our university in collaboration with the Academy of Music in Krakow. In both instances, the reason for the honor was gratitude to the laureate for his unusually valuable theological teachings on music as well as for his constant expression of distinctive concern for the beauty of Church music and attentiveness to its appropriate place in the liturgy celebrated by the Church. Since 2008, both universities offer a program of study of Church music that take place in the Interuniversitary Institute of Church Music. On the part of our university, an additional motivation for this distinction was the desire to express gratitude for raising our institution to the rank of a pontifical university, which took place on the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus on June 19, 2009.
More...Keywords: The University of Cluj; donation; foundation; university trust fund; collection of paintings;
Din primul deceniu de existență, Universitatea din Cluj a beneficiat de sprijinul financiar și material al multor donatori, din țară și din străinătate. Sextil Pușcariu, Emil Racoviță sau Ioan Lupaș au făcut apel la personalități sau la fundații generoase, dispuse să sporească patrimoniul universitar. Cele mai importante au fost donația și Fundația „Virgil Cioflec” (1929), Donația „Anastase Simu” (1929), Donația pentru premii, „Emil Panaitescu” (1930), Donațiile doamnei Anna Hemmerle (1930, 1934, 1937, 1939), donația Patriarhului Miron Cristea (1931) și cea a Episcopiei Române Unite din Oradea (1933), Donația fraților Liviu și Iulian Marțian (1938). Aceste diverse donații au constat în bani, opere de artă, cărți, monede, medalii și altele. Unele s-au adresat direct unor Institute universitare, altele au susținut întreaga activitate universitară. Donațiile și fundațiile au contribuit la îmbogățirea patrimoniului cultural și științific universitar, una dintre marile realizări fiind prima Pinacotecă din Cluj. Donațiile au fost gesturi de prețuire a Universității clujene și un mijloc de susținere a învățământului superior românesc.
More...Keywords: Barbaricum; Bosporan Kingdom; coins; Lesser Poland; Roman provincial coinage
The aim of the present article is to summarize a current state of research on the problem of inflow of Roman provincial coins into Lesser Poland in antiquity. The term “provincial coinage” as used here refers to coins from the mints producing coinages for the purpose of provincial circulation, as well as to the so-called pseudo-autonomous and autonomous coinages struck by various local mints. We consider coins produced in mints located in the Eastern part of the Roman Empire, beginning from Dacia and Moesia, and farther east and south to the provinces of Asia Minor, Syria, and Egypt as well as these struck by the rulers of the Bosporan Kingdom. The chronological scope of this presentation is defined by the final decades of the Roman Republic/the beginning of the Roman Empire and the Diocletian’s reform (AD 294). We shall concentrate on the relevant finds of bronze coinage and the so-called billon coins. Only one brief paragraph is devoted to silver issues.
More...Keywords: end of the communist regime in Czechoslovakia;Velvet Revolution (Sametová revoluce);student demonstration;“Operation Student”;Ministry of the Interior (MV);State Security (StB);
The intervention by the communist security forces on November 17; 1989; as part of an emergency security operation and the security measures codenamed “Student”; carried out in the centre of Prague and especially on Národní Street was to become a milestone in modern Czechoslovak history. The operation; whose objective was to prevent the student demonstration from moving to the centre of the capital; was led by the Head Commander of the Municipal Directorate of the National Security Corps; Colonel JUDr. Michal Danišovič; and the main public order unit was the Trainee Emergency Brigade under the command of Major Bedřich Houbal; complemented by forces from the Special Purposes Section; State Security officers; four reserves from the local District National Corps Offices and other support and auxiliary units. As a reserve unit; which eventually played a key role in controlling the movement of the demonstrators and the operation as a whole; there was a professional operation unit – the Public Security Emergency Regiment under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Břetislav Zdráhala. Both units surrounded the core of the demonstrators on Národní Street; pushing them from both sides after a brutal intervention and the deployment of two armoured vehicles and eventually forcing them into a side street and scattering them. A dramatic role in this was played by members of the anti-terrorist squad headed by Major Petr Šesták who; in cooperation with secret police officers; selected individuals from among the demonstrators and; like the intervention squad members; brutally beat them with batons in the archway of Kaňkův Palace. The disproportionately harsh response by the security forces gradually led to the downfall of the communist totalitarian regime in Czechoslovakia.
More...Keywords: Institutions; rhythm of institutional change; revolution vs. step-by-step change; reforms; centralism; decentralization; socialism; collectivism; self-management; coercion; political power as a source
An unusual, seemingly incompatible combination of facts has occurred in a not so small number of post-socialist economies. All of them switched from collectivistically structured, administratively ruled economies to the market based, appropriately decentralized institutional systems. The firmly held theory and a mountain of empirical evidence implied that this historical institutional shift would greatly enhance efficiency of the economies and their badly needed growth potential. The actual movements did not follow the theoretically indicated directions and the performance of the newly reformed economies left much to be desired. Some episodes of the renowned extensive socialist growth delivered the rate of growth of the economy which turned out incomparably higher in comparison with current post-socialist times. Similarly and in line with that, the output of basic necessities expanded much more rapidly, hosing construction offered incomparably larger number of apartments and social policy system seems to have taken a more conscientious and more efficient care of the needed. Finding a job for people of quite different educational profiles was much easier and more reliable. On account of what is just enumerated, and equally discernible, on account of many unspecified results and thereby implied standards, the public developed the beliefs that the old collectivist system had been superior and that reforming economies towards decentralized structures and market coordination might have been a big strategic mistake. Public opinion surveys revealed high evaluation of the old socialist order and intensive yearning for bygone ways and means of going about material wherewithals and necessities of daily life.The paper comes to grips with the convictions relating to the alleged superiority of the socialist institutional order. The main point in proving that the old systems had in fact been inferior consists in underlining their unsustainability.The high rates of growth achieved in some past periods are not the true indicators of the old systems’ efficiency because they could not be maintained permanently. The very fact of the massive breakdowns of socialist arrangements is the best proof of their inferiority. A high rate which could only be maintained in the course of a limited period is neither superior nor preferable to the lower rate which is sustainable for an indefinite future. It is shown that formerly prevailing extensive growth unfolds through mechanisms which inevitably lead to irreparable deceleration and would ultimately end with secular stagnation. As stagnation is not acceptable as a systemic option, the arrangements ruling in socialist societies had to be replaced by the lump. The important fact is that dramatic slackening of the development trends began while socialist systems were in full operation and that low rates of growth cannot therefore be ascribed to the institutions which were introduced visibly later. Historic institutional turnaround pulling the economies out of centralist shackles came as a consequence of the already languished and developmentally blocked conspicuously paralyzed socialist systems; institutional innovations are not the cause but the result of the previously disabled and hopelessly stopped socialist development. Moreover, there are growth hampering and efficiency reducing legacies deriving directly from previous systems and policies, so that much of what is presently perceived as unsatisfactory – indeed paradoxically – is not the effect of the presently functioning system but arrives as a set of consequences of a nonexistent system, of the past socialist order which generates costs and losses even following its historic, definitive demise.The inefficiency of the socialist systems is analyzed on an additional plane. Having been based on coercion and terror, such systems have, generally speaking, imposed enormous costs in terms of human sufferings, annulment of human freedoms, impairing dignity and trampling on citizens’ rights which constitute an indispensable pillar of civilization. The prototype of the collectivist system is estimated to have, in one way or the other, annihilated between 12 and 15 million people, most of them representing nonsensically destroyed innocent lives. The system imposed and operating with so high and such costs cannot be sustainable and has to meet its historical debacle. With unbelievable waste in all principal walks of life it cannot survive. And – if it could, that would be a pity, a veritable evil course in the unfolding of civilization.
More...Keywords: media discourse; Muslims; the religious Other; topics; frames
The study makes an attempt at comparing the ways the national media of two different countires build and develop the image of the religious Other, in this case – of Muslims. The focus is on the thematic distribution of the articles and the influence they have on the presentations of the communities in both countries. The main methods of analysis are Critical Discourse Analysis and Content Analysis.
More...Keywords: Great Patriotic War;Russia;Soviet Union;Czech Republic;Czechoslovakia;historical memory;politics of history;propaganda;Soviet Army;war in Ukraine;"Russian world";Night Wolves;Immortal Regiment
Theoretically grounded in memory studies, this article reconstructs how the official Soviet-Russian myth of the Great Patriotic War has been politically instrumentalized and abused to promote and legitimize the Kremlin’s power intentions. It examines the forms, mechanisms and actors of this systematically applied politics of history and memory. First in the context of the Soviet intervention in Czechoslovakia in August 1968 and the justification of the subsequent Soviet Army’s stay in the country, then in the context of the propaganda activities of (pro-)Russian activists in the Czech Republic and the current Russian aggression against Ukraine. By the myth of the Great Patriotic War, the author understands the purposefully created, maintained and idealized image of the victorious campaign of the Red Army between 1941 and 1945, the selfless and unprecedented Soviet heroism that saved European nations from German fascism. This sacralized narrative, which suppresses other historical narratives, is monopolized in contemporary Russian state policy as an important tool to shape the historical memory of Russian society and to unite it against new and presumably hostile threats. The author demonstrates the strategy in which during the normalization of the 1970s and 1980s the soldiers of the Soviet Army, who allegedly provided “fraternal assistance” in the suppression of the counter-revolution in Czechoslovakia in August 1968, were presented as the successors and “sons” of the heroic liberators of 1945 and shows how they themselves used and participated in this cult in their “comradeship” with Czech society. After the collapse of the communist regime, this official narrative lost its weight, but the “Russian world” (russkii mir) as a conglomerate of ideas linking segments of Russian culture, Orthodoxy, nationalism and shared historical memory has penetrated the Czech Republic, serving as a “marketing brand” to spread Russia’s geopolitical influence during Putin’s rule. Through the Russian-language press, web platforms and social media, the author maps the actors and forms of the “Russian world” in the Czech Republic, whose background consists of part of the local Russian minority and local pro-Russian associations or initiatives. She pays particular attention to the nationalist motorcycle club Night Wolves (Nochnye volki) and the originally civic, but gradually becoming a state movement Immortal Regiment (Bessmertnyi polk), which revive and promote the myth of the Great Patriotic War in line with the Kremlin’s intentions and which establish their branches beyond the borders of Russia, including the Czech Republic.
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