Uticaj Prvog svetskog rata na nastanak nauke o međunarodnim odnosima: između mita i stvarnosti

Author(s): Dragan R. Simić,Dragan Živojinović / Language(s): Serbian Publication Year: 0

The subject of this paper is the impact of the First World War on the emergence of the science of international relations. It is an attempt to confront once widely accepted hypothesis about the First World War being the most important social cause for the inception of the discipline, with the new, increasingly popular hypothesis that the roots can actually be tracked back to the 19th century. In the first part of the paper, the authors deal with the conventional history of discipline, namely the establishment of the Woodrow Wilson Chair of International Politics at the University of Aberystwyth in Wales in the spring of 1919 and the First World War as the main social cause. The second part lays down criticism of the idea that the First World War was of crucial importance for the development of the science of international relations as an independent academic discipline. Special attention is given to the thesis of global transformation in the nineteenth century and theorists who support this hypothesis.

Alternative predstavničkoj demokratiji: paralelizacija sustavne paradigme skroz heterotopije

Author(s): Cirila Toplak / Language(s): Serbian Publication Year: 0

Liberal representative democracy is considered the least bad and therefore the only acceptable political system in contemporary global social conditions. However, any discourse that denies alternatives is essentially a conservative discourse, while extraordinary demographic, economic and technological developments of modernity require innovations and progress in the field of political where institutions and systemic solutions of 200 years ago still prevail. As it appears rather obvious that the concepts and practices of representative democracy have been largely hollowed out and compromised in the context of transformed and rapidly transforming social conditions, alternatives to representative democracy also need be considered although this system is a rather recent systemic experiment for the Western Balkan societies. Numerous contemporary representative systems and especially those recently introduced, are actually more or less authoritative oligarchies representing a stage of transition to a „true“ democratic society. On the other hand, consolidated representative democracies also tend to turn into oligarchies, deemed the most suitable political framework to the (global) rule of capital. In other words, some societies have not yet developed a functional representative democratic system and are oligarchies for now, while other societies have gone past the peak of optimal functioning of the representative system and are being perverted into oligarchies according to Michels’s „iron law of oligarchy“. Since the dilemma around more or less or better or worse representative democracy would keep the academic discussion inside narrow ideological confines, and since it appears idealistic to work toward systemic reforms or wait for a (violent) revolution, this paper will seek for a path to a harmonious so ciety of optimal prosperity through analysis of heterotopias or „other (political) spaces“ where, according to Michel Foucault, alternative institutions and social relations are being formed and life is conceived under non-hegemonic conditions.

Az Angol–Orosz Bizottság megalakulása, 1924 – 1925

Author(s): Róbert Surányi / Language(s): Hungarian Publication Year: 0

CONSIDERATIONS ON THE MODERN FACE OF WAR

Author(s): Ilie ANGIU / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

The specific means of war is the armed struggle, which is destructive. By triggering a war, politics pursues its aims, but uses other means, the means of armed struggle. Armies are closely linked to technological developments. They are the first beneficiaries of technical and scientific progress. Contemporary military conflicts have highlighted new orientations and concepts of military action, characterized by complexity,mobility, dynamism, the use of high technology and almost totally professional forces,integrated actions of all categories of forces and arms genres. The space for the armedstruggle in its terrestrial, aerial, maritime and cosmic dimension tends to becomeincreasingly integrated, completely cybernetic, with increasing tendencies to expand into theelectromagnetic environment based on spectacular developments in the technical-scientificfield.

MULTIDIMENSIONAL JOB ANALYSIS IN THE MILITARY ORGANIZATIONS

Author(s): Corneliu Axente,Costache Rusu / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

The officers’ advancement in the military career is represented by the translation from execution posts to command posts. Commitment to a command post involves an exponential increase of the task diversity and analyses information flow. Also there’s a need for continuous skills development in leadership and resource managing. Under these circumstances, the occupied command post involves a mix of various challenges in managing simultaneously and synchronously human, material, and time resources available within the organization.This paper proposes a classification used for analyzing the management positions within the military organizations, thus obtaining a way of expressing their complexity and their value, as well as identifying the coordinates needed to be achieved by the military organizations managers from the point of view of different skills or managerial types imposed by the specifics of the occupied post.

FIELD ARTILLERY FIRE COMMAND AND CONTROL DIGITAL INTEROPERABILITY

Author(s): Alexandru Herciu / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

The contemporary operational environment is filled with hybrid threats manifested in open wars or in the grey zone conflicts. The challenges posed by an open hybrid conflict to the tactical units’ operations physiognomy are yet to be identified and addressed according to the lessons learned from the conflicts labeled as hybrid. While, to a certain extent, it is obvious what should be the tactical units’ reaction against a hybrid threat in a host nation territory, it is still not clear what options the Land Forces have in the case of a homeland intervention to counter such a threat posed by a covert actor not crossing the threshold that would activate a state of emergency. Another important question mark is referring to the real possibilities of the tactical units to be proactive in order to smoothly prepare the ground for a facile armed intervention against a hybrid threat within its national borders.

Slovakia’s EU policy in 2018: balancing core and periphery

Author(s): Zuzana Gabrižová / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

True to the tradition that the notable years in Slovakia’s history end in the number “eight,” 2018 will also likely be remembered as a significant moment in the country’s modern political development. It tested Slovakia’s resilience as a country that likes to consider itself as part of the EU’s core – both today and in the future. Several decisions solidified Slovakia’s position in the core in 2017. One was active participation in the Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) in security and defense, while the other was involvement in enhanced cooperation under the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO). However, profound internal challenges were laid bare in early 2018. First of all, the wide-ranging repercussions of the murders of investigative journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancée Martina Kušnírová showed the failings of state institutions in a new light or rather placed them in the international limelight. Meanwhile,the foreign policy consensus and geopolitical orientation of the governing coalition continued to disintegrate. The political state of play in the Visegrad group countries, especially in Hungary and Poland, further complicated the situation for EU policy makersin Slovakia and the aim to position the region as a constructive player in debates on the future of the EU.

The EU and Uzbekistan: Where to go from here?

Author(s): Michael Hall / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

In 2005, following the suppression of the Andijon uprising, the European Union, alone among world powers, took a necessary and principled stance towards the regime of Uzbekistan’s President Islom Karimov. A visa ban was imposed on officials believed to be involved in the indiscriminate killing of mostly unarmed civilians, an embargo was placed on arms shipments to Uzbekistan and high-level bilateral relations were frozen. Now, almost two years later, the strain in relations appears to be taking its toll on both sides. The Uzbek government has made tentative overtures to the EU, and there are indications that some in the EU are willing to accept such overtures at face value in the rush to normalise relations, often citing security and energy concerns, as well as ‘progress’ in the sphere of human rights.

Turkmenistan and the EU: Contexts and possibilities for greater engagement

Author(s): Michael Denison / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

The sudden death of Turkmenistan’s President Saparmurat Niyazov on 21 December 2006, has opened a window for engagement between the European Union and Turkmenistan. There appears to be a realisation across the Turkmen political elite that Niyazov’s style of policy micro management was unsustainable and undesirable, both in terms of its immediate outcomes and for its broader impact on political and social cohesion. Accordingly, a more balanced and predictable form of governance under President Gurbanguly Berdymuhammedov has emerged, albeit with an increasingly accented personalistic tone.

Comparing Normativity in Foreign Policy: China, India, the EU, the US and Russia

Author(s): Natalie Tocci,Ian Manners / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

The conceptual framework presented in chapter 1 of this book to assess normativity in foreign policy presumes that any international player can act in a variety of ways in different foreign policy instances. In this final chapter we shall conclude by attempting the difficult task of comparing such normativity in the foreign policies of the five major global actors, selected in view of their population sizes and permanent seats on the UN Security Council – China, India, EU, US and Russia.

SEEKING A THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK: HOW TO DEFINE AND IDENTIFY POPULIST PARTIES?

Author(s): Aneta Pinková,Vlastimil Havlík / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

Recent decades have seen a pronounced rise in political parties which may be identified as populist. Scholars have reacted with an increased number of studies devoted to the phenomena of party populism and other expressions of populism. Special attention has been paid to political parties identified as radical right-wing populist parties and nationalist populist parties. (Former) Communist political parties have also often been included under the populist umbrella (see, e.g., Deegan-Krause 2007, March 2008).

BALTIC COUNTRIES

Author(s): Ilze Balcere / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

When one is asked to identify a typical populist party from the party systems of East-Central European countries, there is only a slight chance that a party from the Baltic States will be named. Indeed, if we look at the body of research on populism in this region, the usual cases under investigation are, for example, the Slovak National Party, the Party of Hungarian Truth and Justice, Czech Republicans or the League of Polish Families (see, for instance, Dočekalová 2006). So far, cross-national or single case studies on populism in the Baltics have been an exception, rather than a systematic and well-developed research field.

THE POLITICS OF POPULISM IN BULGARIA

Author(s): Blagovesta Cholova / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

Populism has become a widely discussed topic over the last decade, both in Western Europe and in East-Central Europe. Although there is not a clear definition of this political phenomenon, many scholars have tried to tackle the issue of the emergence and the success of populist parties and movements and to offer an insight into its causes and the consequences.

THE POLITICS OF POPULISM IN HUNGARY

Author(s): Vratislav Havlík / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

There are many reasons why it is difficult to apply the concept of populism to Hungarian politics. However good a definition of party populism is, research of this phenomenon in the Hungarian party system runs into obstacles which hinder one’s endeavours and to some degree distort the reality. The most important obstacle is the concept’s pervasive presence in the country’s own discourse: in journalism and in society generally, but also in literature, both popular and scholarly.

THE ROLE OF THE PRESIDENT IN BULGARIAN POLITICS: THE VETO AS A TOOL FOR LEGITIMATION?

Author(s): Blagovesta Cholova / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

The presidential institution in most Central and East-European countries has passed through different stages of development since 1989. The role of presidents has changed over time and developed different patterns and characteristics in different countries, even though the institutional framework is quite similar in most of the countries in the region.

SUMMARY

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

The book aims at an examination of the discrepancies between the formal and actual positions of presidents in Central and Eastern European countries, especially those which are classified as parliamentary democracies and those which have semi-presidential features. Constitutionally, presidents are normally endowed with symbolic functions and duties that are shared with the government (such as appointment of important officials), regardless of whether they are elected directly or indirectly.

Arii protejate – concepte, tipologii, politici privind biodiversitatea / ariile naturale protejate la nivel european şi în România

Author(s): Oana Catalina Popescu / Language(s): Romanian Publication Year: 0

The chapter explores theconcepts, typology, and policies on biodiversity related to the natural protected areas in Europe and Romania.

How Did The Nordic-Baltic Countries Handle The First Wave of COVID-19?

Author(s): Iselin Engebretsen,Elina Lange-Ionatamishvili,Miranda Karin Michélsen Forsgren,Rakin Sayed / Language(s): English

What is this project? When the Covid-19 virus struck Europe in 2020 with the full force of a pandemic, eight countries allied in the Nordic-Baltic region immediately faced a challenge to their hard-won partnership. For three decades Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, and Sweden had been building a common purpose. How would that friendship respond to the greatest health scare in a hundred years? This report aims to answer this question by looking at developments in the Nordic-Baltic Eight (NB8) through a Strategic Communications lens. Why a Strategic Communications lens? To understand fully the pandemic that gripped these eight partner states is to paint a picture that goes beyond the number of human lives lost or the rise in unemployment, fall in national economic growth, and assumption of state debt so punitive to their taxpayers. Any complete picture would also tell the story of how governments chose to speak to their electorates, and how civil society would respond to unprecedented measures imposed in peace time: curbing individual freedoms, it may be assumed, would elicit a consequent questioning of trust between government and governed.

European Voices in the Western Balkans: A Liberal Perspective on Enlargement of the European Union

Author(s): Natan Albahari,Martin Apostolski,Damir Arnaut,Ivan Dragojević,Sanela Klarić,Aris Movsesijan / Language(s): English

A simple glance at a map of Europe is enough to see why a joint European future for all European countries is inevitable and that it would be a logical interest of the European Union do spread its borders across the Western Balkans and further strengthen its position in the region. Still, keeping talks of enlargement alive is getting more and more difficult every year. Even before the pandemic, the opinion that it is necessary to reform the accession criteria before any new enlargement talks should begin has emerged, which has temporarily suspended candidacy talks with Albania and North Macedonia at one point, and almost caused serious backsliding in the latter Western Balkan country. Although the European Union is still mostly engaged in fighting the COVID-19 outbreak, preparing itself for the post-pandemic crises, and trying to make internal reforms in order to tackle existing and possible future problems in member states, talks on enlargement should not halt. And the two priorities – the one on the internal and the one on external strengthening of the European Union – must not be considered mutually exclusive, because they both benefit the geopolitical position of Europe.

Železnice a evropská dopravní politika – ideje, strategie, nástroje a jejich aplikace

Author(s): Martin Kvizda,Daniel Seidenglanz,Simona Surmařová,Vojtěch Surmař,Tomáš Paleta,Hana FITZOVÁ,Zdeněk Tomeš / Language(s): Czech

This monograph deals with the issue of the organization and regulation of transport systems and, above all, the rail transport segment, which is extremely complex in terms of planning, financing and regulation. The book concludes the monographic edition “Railway Reforms” as its 6th volume; the previous volumes addressed individual aspects of rail transport: modeling demand for transport and its prediction, regulating the competitive environment on the railways, specific stories of sectoral reforms in the UK and Germany, and economic appreciation of the liberalization of railway systems in Europe. This last volume is devoted to a comprehensive analysis and assessment of transport policy in relation to the railways in the countries of the European Union. Transport policy has a significant role to play in the economic policy of the European Union, national states, regions and cities, given the scarcity of natural resources and the growing demand for transport services, with fiscal, strategic, environmental and social goals being increasingly urgent. The entire book is divided into six chapters, which form closed units, are focused on a certain aspect of transport policy on the railway and are always concluded by a partial conclusion. At the same time, however, the chapters logically follow and complement each other, forming a whole, from which it is possible to derive overall conclusions and recommendations.