Around the Bloc: Baltics Tallying Cost of Soviet Occupation Premium
Justice ministers want Russia to pay for losses incurred under 50 years of rule by the USSR.
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Justice ministers want Russia to pay for losses incurred under 50 years of rule by the USSR.
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The trains, a rare sign of cooperation between former enemies, allow migrants to skip prolonged waits at border crossings.
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Kosovo's constitution obliges the authorities to consider an initiative against giving ethnic Serb population greater autonomy.
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Premier of Russian-controlled territory rules out future energy cooperation with Kyiv.
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Arrest of Frenchman with a small arsenal has ramped up concerns about Donbas weapons being smuggled westward.
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This article refers to the contemporary situation in the Russian economy and in the Russian capital economy. Economy in Russia is based on the extraction of raw materials. However, in 2010 economic forecasts for the country were optimistic. In this period economic development was strong and the country became a member of the BRICS group. One of the issues of the Russian Federation economy was the backing of the old system. Most investments were focused on the energy sector when in the public sector the changes were smaller. To increase revenues and funds big reforms are necessary and new investments. One possibility to improve the economic situation is to focus on greater extraction of raw materials. Another option is to resign from a monocultural economy. The situation in Moscow is better than the general economic situation in the Russian Federation. GDP increased regularly. In 2008 Russia took 15t place in the ranking of the hundred largest cities GDP. The Moscow economy is based especially on the trade of energy resources. Moreover, profit is gained from business activities and industry. The level of unemployment in Moscow is the lowest in comparison to all regions. In the capital city it fluctuates between 0,5% and 1%. A major problem in the capital city is the constant immigration from other part of the Federation and other foreign countries. In majority, people who come to Moscow are the job seekers. Also the significant problem is ubiquitous corruption.
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Following a study visit in Baku, the author exposes in this paper some of the research results, being also embedded the opinions of Azerbaijanis experts that were interviewed. The aim is to perform an analysis on the evolution of Azerbaijani state interpreted both from the European and Azerbaijani perspective. On the one hand, it is approached the development of the Republic of Azerbaijan after the collapse of Soviet Union and the way the Nagorno-Karabakh unsolved conflict has influenced Azerbaijan’s foreign policy. On the other hand, it is researched the manner in which the European Union – Azerbaijan relations have evolved since 1991, but especially once the Eastern Partnership has been created. Considering the fundamental purpose of the European Neighborhood Union, to ensure security, stability and prosperity in the EU’s vicinity, it is analyzed the impact of two multilateral platforms within the Eastern Partnership (Democracy, good governance and stability, and Energy security) was achieved on the Republic of Azerbaijan. At the same time, it is investigated whether the European Union should accept an authoritarian leadership, as a legitimate actor and partner on the international stage just because the EU has a strategic interest to diversify its energy sources and, eventually, reduce the dependence on Russian Federation, or it should change its approach and adopt a firmer stance. Last but not least, are revealed the geopolitical frictions in the South Caucasus region and the reasons for which Azerbaijan tries to maintain its status as a sovereign and independent country, avoiding to ally with any geopolitical bloc, but opting for economic, energy and military cooperation with both sides.
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Can foreign direct investment (FDI) promote growth in Africa? What does the inflow of investment hold for African emerging economies? Are the determinants of FDI different for different regional blocs in Africa? This study reviews the implication of FDI for different regional blocs in Africa. FDI was found to have a significant effect on growth in North Africa but had no significant effect in East, Southern and West Africa. FDI was also found not to be driving growth in the whole of Africa in a significant manner. The implications of the findings are that even though trade openness seems to be a major factor driving FDI. Poor domestic markets were still preventing many African economies from taking full advantage of the gains from foreign direct investment. The study results could be useful to scholars who study the dynamics surrounding FDI disbursement and strategies on how FDI can drive growth in developing countries.
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Is Oslo’s new policy a sign of warming relations with Moscow or ‘Russophobia’?
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Dayton Accords is the peace agreement reached on Nov. 21, 1995, i.e twenty years ago. During this period many scientific meetings were held in the world, and in Bosnia and Herzegovina too. The abstract of all these meetings could be the question if this international agreement’s good or not, whether it should be changed or upgraded, or neither of these things should be done. Without any doubts, Dayton Accords was historical moment not only for B&H, but also for its people and nations, because this agreement’s result was peace. Nevertheless, we didn’t get fair peace which meant equality of all its citizens and nations. It is all proved by the solution – one country, two entities, and three constitutional but not sovereign nations. Dissolution of B&H into two entities and disintegration of constitutional structure and agreement of two parties (Bosniaks and representatives of Yugoslav Federation) harming by this third party (Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina), brought the constant crisis of Bosnian and Herzegovinian society. This work brings few examples of violation of agreed obligations or secretly changed solutions by legislative power of B&H. All changes have been made mostly by harming Croatian people in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Experience has shown that all these changes damaged overall state of Bosnian and Herzegovinian society, and they didn’t bring prosperity for this country. Dayton Peace Agreement in Bosnia and Herzegovina needs to experience return to authenticity and necessary changes in order to create more equitable, more functional and cheaper union of three constitutional nations and its citizens.
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At the outbreak of the Second World War the Union of South Africa was military unprepared and divided politically. The division into supporters and opponents of the war against Germany was clear, both in the Parliament, as well as in South African society, particularly among large parts of the Afrikaners it manifested itself as significant political support and public acceptance of the ideology of Adolf Hitler and the Third Reich. The moderate Afrikaners and first of all the English‑speaking population supported joining the war on the side of the Allies. In the parliament, the issue has led to a government crisis. The Union of South Africa as a British Dominion finally declared war on Nazi Germany. In a relatively short time the state was able to prepare its institutions, society and economy for participation in the war. An important role in the consolidation of the political elite and society in the fight against Nazi Germany on the side of to the Allies was played J. C. Smuts.
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Central African Republic (CAR) is one of the poorest and most unstable countries in the world and has occupied the top place in all possible rankings of failed states, instability, poverty, corruption etc. for many years. However, although the CAR has experienced almost constant instability for the last few decades it was only in recent years that it has received the media attention which was unseen before. Such an unusual interest has resulted from two successive internal conflicts: first, in 2012 the anti‑ government rebellion drawing together the alliance of rebel militia factions, the Séléka, and a year later the insurrection of the opposing Anti‑Balaka forces. The article is an attempt to analyse the causes of the instability of the CAR and the current political and security situation in the country, taking into account, among other things, the results of the fieldwork conducted by the author in the Central African Republic, as well as his long‑time research on the phenomenon of dysfunctional states.
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Rape and other forms of sexual violence have been inseparably linked with the ongoing military conflicts. Despite the condemnation of war rape in modern times, its penalization arrived extraordinarily slowly. The last twenty years brought about a huge progress in the approach to the penalization of international crimes of sexual nature, which was developed in a hitherto unprecedented range in the jurisprudence of the international criminal tribunals, especially in Africa. The aim of this article is to present the cases of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) which had a significant influence on the penalization of war crimes of sexual nature in the Statute of the International Criminal Court and two trials of the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL), concerning the penalization of forced marriage. It shows how the African juridical traditions contributed to the problem of the penalization of sexual war crimes.
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The article is aimed at building a theoretical framework for an empirical analysis of the politics of memory in a new post-Soviet democracy. We elaborate on the concept of new democracy and highlight that in late post-Soviet countries it might be defined through three interrelated variables of trustworthy institution building, promotion of civil rights, and consistent foreign policy. We refine the concept of the politics of memory underlining the electoral origins of public policies addressing the painful issues of the past. To find out how the politics of memory evolves in the new post-Soviet democracy, we distinguish three memory issues of highly contentious nature: lustration, ban on public display of Soviet symbols, and compensation from Russia for Soviet occupation.
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A conversation with Hanna Hopko, EuroMaidan activist and member of Ukrainian parliament. Interviewer: Adam Reichardt
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Public intellectuals had played a significant role in the process of Montenegro’s sovereignization; in the contemporary Montenegrin state and society their role is still very important, and the focus of their activity has shifted from the statehood issues to the problem of state identity construction. The peculiarities of social and political situation in Montenegro and the traditions of interrelations between the state and the society (including civil society) condition the presence of the specific features of Montenegrin intellectuals which hamper their reckoning among “public intellectuals” in the traditional sense. The paper provides a brief review of the intellectual discourse of modern Montenegro, considers some of the key intellectuals and their role, place and potential in the socio-political life of the country.
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By undertaking discussion on the aspect of special forms of commemoration, we may obtain a lot of useful information about the remembrance policy of a given country. That is why the analysis of the issue of the sites of memory seems to be of key importance for understanding problems related to the state’s interpretation of the past from the perspective of an authoritarian regime, political transition and democracy. The aim of this paper is to address one of the elements of a broader issue, i.e. the study of the politics of memory. This element focuses on the presentation of the most significant sites of memory in two countries with the experience of authoritarianism – Chile and Georgia – emphasizing changes which took place in the sphere of commemoration from the beginning of democratic transformation to the moment of achieving full democracy. By describing these places we are showing the main directions and framework assumptions of the remembrance policies of Chile and Georgia, reflected in the form of spatial and visual objects of the “living history”.
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In the first part of this paper, the author tried to prove that the cult of work among the young people, without which there is no their personal, nor the communal progress, can be revived and nurtured on the examples of the voluntary youth work. In this paper, the opinion dominates that the work and employment are the best means of proper education and preparation of a young men for life, which is the main positive achievement of the voluntary youth work in the Socialist Yugoslavia. This dimension of youth work actions should be positively valorized, although they were the factor of establishment and stabilization of a regime which can be to the great extent criticised and objected to. As a former youth officer and organizer, in the second part of the paper, the author puts forward his own memory and experience from the local labor action “Gracanica 77”, which had a number of specific features (not being of the local type) and achieved the significant results. It was the last labor action of such proportions in Gracanica, which was quickly forgotten. By this paper, the author made an effort to “return” it from oblivion.
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Conditions are very different in the different parts of any country, and the quality of life as well as the impacts produced on the environment depend on a variety of local factors of environmental, economic and cultural nature, and every action must cope with such local conditions, traditions, and attitudes. Thereby one of the approaches on assessment of sustainable development could be based on subjective evaluation of citizens of certain municipality. During 2010-2012 in Salaspils municipality (Latvia) the SPIRAL methodology for measurement of subjective well-being indicators using co-responsibility approach was approbated, which was the basis for establishing the more efficient dialogue with citizens. This research showed results related to sustainable development as well – the methodology provides alternative subjective sustainable development indicators which provides the reach material for local authorities in decision-making process. Taking into account all mentioned before the purpose of paper is to analyse the results conducted during this research related to subjective sustainable development indicators contrary to objective sustainable indicators of municipality.In order to achieve the aim the tasks are formulated as follows: 1to review theoretical background for responsible sustainable development at local level; 2to analyse best practice of municipalities in ensuring the citizens’ engagement in promoting sustainable development in the municipality; 3to present the methodology of conducted empirical research at Salaspils municipality on assessment the well-being at local level and relation to sustainable development. Research methods used: scientific literature studies, several stages of focus group discussions, statistical data analysis, SPIRAL methodology, scenario method.The main findings of the paper – subjective evaluation of economic, social and environment differs from objective measures. It could be explained by the fact that subjective indicators capture the satisfaction of inhabitants by certain moment. In addition, objective indicators don’t show the level of satisfaction what brings each measure unit (EUR, %, etc.). Also the subjective perceptions of inhabitants affects mentality, culture and other background factors. In addition, it is crucial for sustainable development of the territory to ensure that society is effectively involved in preparation of planning documents of the municipality. It is proposed to use co-responsibility approach in definition and implementation of activities towards sustainable development of municipality.
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The purpose of this article is to assess the quality of life of the residents of a degraded satellite area of a city. It is considered in the context of urban development policy – as the result of decisions and as a challenge for long-term development. The research was based on a case study, which is the district of Opole referred to as Metalchem. It is characterized by an isolated location in the city structure as well as economic transformations. The study was based primarily on an analysis of source materials and results of a survey. The results show that the assessment of the quality of life is inconsistent. The living conditions are good, but satisfactory fulfillment of social needs is lacking. The residents of the studied area feel that their quality of life is lower than that of other residents of the city. This situation is the result of three main factors: insufficient access to public services, an ingrained negative image of the quarter, and a lack of coherence and continuity of the policy regarding this area. Research shows that the quality of life of the residents of degraded and satellite districts depends on the management and investments in the area, on the area’s perceived status within the city, but primarily on a consistent implementation of spatial and economic policies. Ensuring cohesion and integration between the satellite districts and the city center as well as other districts is also important.
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