My article gives a description of political thought included in Toller’s play Masse Mensch (1921) and the government-conceptions it contains. The analysis tries an approach on that problem focusing the historic prototype of Tollers main character Sonja Irene L. and her connection towards Eisner, Landauer and Toller. Another keystone of analysis is the look on Max Weber’s “Herrschaftssoziologie” which Toller probably knew, as he verifiable had contact to the Sociologist from 1917 on and some intensive discussions concerning the German future. Based on Weber’s categories and some ‘laws’ of the revolutionary principle ‘invented’ by Landauer, it explores the political implements of the dramatic constellation and Toller’s aesthetics. The conclusions point out the political positions of the three main actors and Toller’s pedagogical intentions towards the audience – arguing for a behaviour of a “‘nevertheless’ – although ‘I would prefer not to’”.
More...Keywords: Municipal politics; local politics; German political science; multi-level governance
The article deals with the “state of the art” of municipal and local politics research in Germany. The main objective is to describe and analyze good practice in German sub-regional politics research and to demonstrate its main distinctive features. The paper provides a general overview of current approaches to sub-regional politics research existing mainly in the framework of political science with strong connections to other disciplines (such as law or sociology) and a strong tendency to form a multidisciplinary approach. Our analysis deals with the following: a description of the main research institutions and distinguished scholars in the field, a discussion of prevailing topics, and a study of the most cited publication outcomes since the year 2000. The paper also examines the main differences between Czech and German research in the field of municipal and local politics.
More...speech of Ludvík Vaculík at the 4th Congress of Czechoslovak Writers on June 28, 1967
More...Keywords: Czech-German Relationship;
Die in den folgenden elf Dokumenten angeführten Aussagen stehen für Dutzende ähnlicher. Sie alle dokumentieren die Entwicklung, durch die das Verhältnis zwischen Bonn und Prag in den vergangenen zwei Jahren gegangen ist. Ein Verhältnis, das sich stets durch ein besonders unterkühltes Klima auszeichnete: Die Tschechoslowakei unter Novotny wie unter Dubcek war außenpolitisch und speziell in Richtung BRD stets um peinliche Beachtung der von der Sowjetunion gesetzten Maßstäbe bedacht. (Vgl. Adolf Müller: Die Haltung der CSSR gegenüber der Bundesrepublik Deutschland während des Prager Demokratisierungsprozesses, (Osteuropa Nr. 4/1969, S. 256-266.) Um so schmerzlicher hat es auch die offiziellen Repräsentanten der tschechoslowakischen Nach-Januar-Politik von 1968 berührt, daß diese Rücksicht auf die institutionellen Bindungen des Landes nicht nur nicht honoriert, sondern mit der Intervention vom 21. August 1968 beantwortet wurde. Etwas von dem Ärger über die durch übergroßes Wohlverhalten verpaßten Chancen wie über die unberechtigten Anklagen klingt auch aus dem ersten zitierten Artikel von Pavol Záborský.
More...Niemals war dieses Thema historisch relevanter, niemals waren die Meinungsverschiedenheiten so scharf. Und in diesen Meinungs verschiedenheiten zeigt sich eines: Nicht-zu-Ende-Gedachtes sowohl auf der einen als auch auf der anderen Seite. Im Widerstreit zwischen dem bürgerlichen Empirismus und Positivismus und dem marxistischen Dogmatismus kann es keine stärkere Seite geben. Wenn der bürgerliche politische Verstand, nicht die Vernunft, mit seinem Wohlstandsstaat und seiner politischen Demokratie paradiert, dann ist er ebenso historisch kurzsichtig wie der Dogmatismus der Marxisten, der dieser Welt einen leeren etatistischen Sozialismus als Ideal entgegensetzt, der im Hinblick auf geselschaftliche Freiheiten nicht einmal das Niveau der bürgerlichen Gesellschaft erreichte. Dialoge und Kontroversen auf dieser Grundlage haben und werden nie historische Bedeutung und Wirksamkeit haben.
More...Keywords: Finland and Soviet Union;
text 1: FOREIGN AFFAIRS, New York, July 1954 (original: "Finland stands Guard" by John H. Wuorinen text 2: ISWESTIJA, Moscow, Aug. 17, 1954 ("Wem und wozu der nordische Staat dient") by P Rysakov text 3: THE ECONOMIST, London, Jul. 24, 1954 (roiginal: "The Finns Flirt With Moscow")
More...In April 2005, the International Commission on the Balkans (ICB) presented its long-awaited findings for a rethinking of European policies for the future of the Balkans and most prominently for the deadlocked question of Kosovo’s future status. Albeit not an official institution, the political and academic standing of the ICB members guarantees the Report a substantial strategic impact. Essentially, the authors argue that the EU should start to think of the enlargement process as a strategic instrument rather than a reward for reforms accomplished. According to the Report, only opening a track towards EU integration for the Balkans has the potential to unravel Kosovo’s Gordian knot by providing the Kosovars with a framework for conditional statehood and Serbia with an appealing compensation for the loss of Kosovo without destabilising the region as a whole. In 2005, as a decisive year for the Balkans, the Report with its creative and bold recommendations could not have come timelier.
More...Keywords: medieval state; statehood; neo-medievalism; Lands of the Bohemian Crown;
The article focuses on the question as to the role played by the secondary lands of the Bohemian Crown in the territorial understanding of the Czech state in the late Middle Ages, from the perspective of Bohemia as the centre of the state. The author identifies tendencies indicating whether the Bohemian political representatives or the authors of the sources understood the secondary landsas ‘our’ or foreign’, making use of categories of internal and external subjectivity, which are partof a broader concept of terminological description of the phenomenon of medieval statehood. Thewhole question is set in the context of the current intense debates about the medieval form of thepolitical power system, and seeking parallels between it and the reality of the postmodern world,and especially the theory of the state and the theory of international relations, which are coveredby the term neo-medievalism.
More...Keywords: Germany; Angela Merkel; Eurozone crisis; fi nancial crisis; migration crisis; security crisis
This article looks at the reaction of Germany to the crisis phenomena that have been emerging since 2008. An attempt was made to characterize the German response on the basis of the analysis of budget debates in the Bundestag from the period in question, whereby the scope of the analysis was limited to the debates devoted to the Chancellery’s budget. Formally, they concern a relatively small budget, however, they are the culmination of parliamentary budget debates, taking on the character of a discussion on government policy with evaluation elements. Their aim is to present and consider the priorities of the ruling coalition, to identify key challenges and to work out the responses. The comparison of the course and content of the debates enabled the author to formulate comparative conclusions regarding individual crises by indicating specific as well as common elements of the state’s reaction.
More...Keywords: Germany; Angela Merkel; Eurozone crisis; financial crisis; migration crisis; security crisis
This article looks at the reaction of Germany to the crisis phenomena that have been emerging since 2008. An attempt was made to characterize the German response on the basis of the analysis of budget debates in the Bundestag from the period in question, whereby the scope of the analysis was limited to the debates devoted to the Chancellery’s budget. Formally, they concern a relatively small budget, however, they are the culmination of parliamentary budget debates, taking on the character of a discussion on government policy with evaluation elements. Their aim is to present and consider the priorities of the ruling coalition, to identify key challenges and to work out the responses. The comparison of the course and content of the debates enabled the author to formulate comparative conclusions regarding individual crises by indicating specific as well as common elements of the state’s reaction.
More...Keywords: emotions; frame; framing; interpretive frame
The article is devoted to the phenomenon of framing. The aim of the analysis was to show that numerous frames of interpretation which are conveyed by the ubiquitous media and establish themselves in public opinion reach the recipients and have a certain effect on them. With the help of established frames, the journalists can process and merge information without investing a lot of time and effort in a comprehensive analysis of the topic (cf. Matthes 2009: 120), because “[n]ot facts, but frames are the basis of our everyday life social, economic and political decisions” (Wehling 2016: 45). Thus, it seems necessary to investigate how media makers’ framed messages influence the recipients. Based on the corpus evidence obtained through online research, it was possible to establish that the most conspicuous frames arise when dealing with contemporary problems that society has to face. The most popular frames address, among other things, taxes, social benefits, terrorism, refugee, policy and environment issues. The media frames ensure that certain emotions and attitudes towards the given situation are evoked in the recipient. In order for the frames to reach the recipient’s consciousness and evoke emotions, the facts to which they point must be expressed verbally, i.e. put into appropriate words. The analysis carried out shows that a well-thought-out linguistic packaging – for example framed complex words such as Menschenschwarm, gigantische Migrationswelle, Schutzsuchende, Steuerhölle, Steuerparadies – can shape the recipients’ perception of reality. Compounds – which are often metaphorically charged – are particularly suitable as framed terms because they are rich in content and attract the recipients’ attention. These frame compounds can, in very particular ways, activate desired – positive or negative – ideas in the recipients and control their expectations. Based on the results of the analysis, it can be concluded that frames to some extent assess and interpret social and political conditions from a specific perspective and often have a direct influence on the recipient’s emotions as well as their actions.
More...Keywords: dativ+possessive-construction; dialect; language island; gender incongruence;
The article deals with the adnominal dative+possessive construction of the type in Bęəbən ir Gətrax (‘the women their costume = the costume of women’) and its different variants in the German dialect of Deutschpilsen, a small Hungarian language island in northern Hungary. It is a medieval settlement, in the past its inhabitants were mainly engaged in mining and probably came from the south and the middle east of the German-speaking area. A mixed dialect was created. The basic dialect of the remote village has preserved many archaic elements to this day. The dialect is currently threatened with extinction, it has become a language of elderly people and memory. The adnominal dative+possessive construction has a wide range of literature, and the article would like to present new findings in addition. The analysis is carried out on empirically collected linguistic data that was recorded with the help of a questionnaire in Deutschpilsen. The informants were elderly villagers who still speak the dialect as their mother tongue. Particular attention is paid to the subject of gender and pronominal reference in the dative+possessive construction. The conflict between grammatical and referential gender is shown, as in the example in Hoz iər Gartn (‘the house her garden = the garden of the house’). For this grammatical discrepancy (neutral article, feminine pronominalization), justifications are sought in literature. The gender congruence between antecedent and possessive is often cancelled in the examined dialect, incongruences between the article and pronoun can arise. Incongruent forms with reference to a masculine or neuter can be observed. The variants with masculine/neutral articles and feminine possessive pronouns are particularly striking: ən Knab iər Štim (‘a boy her voice = the voice of a boy’). I have not found any similar evidence in the dialectological literature. The article documents and describes three types of adnominal dative+possessive construction, illustrated with plenty of example sentences from Deutschpilsen. The relationship between genitive and possessive dative, which is much discussed in the literature, is also shed in a new light.
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