Around the Bloc: Far-Right National Militia Swears Loyalty to Ukrainian People
Some worry about cooperation of extremists with the police to patrol city streets.
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Some worry about cooperation of extremists with the police to patrol city streets.
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The purpose of the research is to define the main features of the cultural transformation of modern Belarusian society. The research methodology is based on the interdisciplinary approach and modern sociological, cultural and anthropological concepts and consists in using of the methods of system analysis for indication of strategic objectives and basic principles of cultural and structural-functional development, which allows viewing culture in its historical, axiological and functional integrity. Scientific novelty is connected with the new understanding of cultural transformation of the modern Belarusian society. The inchoate national identity, lack of support of the Belarusian language, and spiritual crisis hinders the development of the Belarusian national culture and do not resist cultural assimilation and erosion of the nation spiritual foundations. Conclusions. The development of the Belarusian culture depends on the Belarusian identity and statehood. The cultural transformation of the modern Belarusian society is characterized by the following features: the desire of the national elite to preserve the Belarusian cultural paradigm defined by the phenomena of revival, Christian enlightenment, a unique coexistence of the multi-confessional and pagan cultural forms, tolerance, openness and liberal form of thinking; a tragic gap between the creative sphere (intellectual, cultural and creative activities of the national elite) and the sphere of cultural functioning (non Belarusian mass culture, cultural assimilation, and Russification); the crisis in the Belarusian culture, caused by the crisis of the global Christian culture and by the post-Soviet nihilism as well as by low level of the national identity, decreasing of the Belarusian language use; a split of the Belarusian society mainly on the basis of geopolitical orientation and social identity and at the same time growing understanding by authorities of the necessity to strengthen the Belarusian cultural identity as well as their attempts to build a political nation on the basis of the state ideology.
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The author argues that a significant problem with the ongoing internation al administration in Bosnia is an epistemic hegemony of the West, which has further deformed Bosnian conflicted society through the establishment of approaches that resemble Western colonialism/imperialism. Although illiberal and lacking local legitimacy and accountability, this informal trusteeship has adopted discourses of liberalism and Europeanness to justify itself in front of the local and global public. Nevertheless, that caused local resistance — mostly in the form of ethnopolitics. Political elites, both internal and external, have framed post-war society of Bosnia and Herzegovina as a ‘continuation of war by other means’, which resulted in the construction of mutually contested national identities and ethnicized peaces. Therefore, the author uses critical approach to peacebuilding, interpretative methodology and discourse analysis to argument his general hypothesis.
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The author presents Vico’s and Hegel’s theory that without a state, there is no historical nation. According to Vico, world history is the process in which the rulers of the strongest and most ethical-politically virtuous replace one another. For Hegel, history crystallizes into rational principles that become the basis for customs and the national advancement of the society. Certain nations become the carriers of world history' as they take more seriously freedoms in the state. The author suggests that modern understanding of history should not forget Hegel’s concept of practical wisdom. For this reason also, Croatia is not obliged to accept the international pragmatists’ dictation, but Croatia’s ties to the West must be based on principles of truth and justice.
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Review of: Herfried Miinkler “Im Namen des Staates. Begründung der Staatsraison in der Frühen Neuzeit”; S.Fischer, Frankfurt/M., 1993. by: Zvonko Posavec
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The author portrays the crisis of national and state sovereignty in contemporary Europe, the consequence of economic and political integrational processes and the creation of new supranational institutions. The question is whether these supranational institutions can be democratically structured and if they can provide for the level of social integration which used to be secured by the national state. The most recent discussions have revolved around theoretical concepts of denationalized sovereignties, international legislation and asynchronous denationalization, which are indicative of the crisis of national sovereignty.. Possible modes of the distribution of sovereign authorities among various constituents have been developed based on an extremely interesting historical parallel between the institutional structure of the Holy Roman Empire of the German nation in the pivotal years from 1495 to 1576 and the existing or proposed institutions of the European Union. The prospects of the European Union, the author concludes, are not going to be determined or affected by the lack of democracy but by the lack of political efficiency and political unity.
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Taking as his starting point the methodological instructions of the American liberal politologist Adam Przeworski about the importance of the action-theory analysis of the transformational dynamics of postauthoritharian societies, the author looks into the prospects of liberal reforms in Eastern Europe. The central thesis of the article is that the reforms’ success depends on the balance of power between the liberal and the national-populist elites, who vie for public support. The outcome of that struggle will depend on the way in which the competing elites will act in response to the five essential contextual factors: the need for economic and social security, the expectations of social justice, the dynamics of the integration with the West, the articulation of the national identity within a national state, and, perhaps, the existence of ethnic minorities (i.e. the threat of interethnic conflicts).
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The collectivist ideology of nationalisms in most states which have come out in the open from the totalitarian Bolshevik sway has triumphed over the idea of the free self-confident individual. In most “young democracies” nationalism has proved the central integrational and stabilizational force of the system and the factor which significantly contributes to its pseudolegitimation. The author claims that only the concept of a bourgeois state which takes into consideration basic human rights and freedoms and the dignity of each individual enables the overcoming of the legitimation crisis of these regimes.
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In this work I present Leibniz’s views in the context of the dispute on the origins of language held in the 17th century and inspired if not yet by pure nationalism, then certainly by the argument about the priority of linguistic and cultural tradition. The Leibniz’s stand in the matter is not unequivocal. However, when comparing the philosopher’s marginal ideological statements, views expressed in his key texts concerning the theory of language, as well as the ones connected with the theory of cognition, we are lead to a conclusion that the philosopher has taken a different approach – not only as an ideologist defending Germany’s cultural heritage, but also as a thinker, theoretician and researcher of natural languages, proving the equality of their cognitive functions. The most interesting issue undertaken by the philosopher, is the problem of the status of language and its relation to thinking. In this context the futile argument about the priority of languages is replaced with a philosophical question, which remains significant to this day, about the human ability to create a language and its cognitive rank.
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The 1949 rise to power of the Chinese Communist Party (Zhongguo Gongchandang 中国共产党) was the beginning of a new era in China: the declaration of the People’s Republic of China (Zhonghua Renmin Gongheguo 中华人民共和国) was the first step on the “socialist road” leading to the creation of the long-coveted Chinese national unity. However, progress on the “socialist road” has posed many challenges for the ethnic minorities living within China’s borders. Mostly because melting into the Chinese national unity – paradoxically – became a symbol of the autonomy of ethnic minorities. In the spirit of this process, the ethnic nationalist aspirations of the Sibe (Chin. xibo zu 锡伯族; Sib. sibe uksura ᠰᡞᠪᡝ ᡠᡣᠰᡠᠷᠠ), the ethnic minority I studied, unfolded alongside the writing of Chinese national history. In my work, I follow these endeavors from the 1950s until recent times. At the center is a story that is seemingly about the knowledge base of Sibe ancestors, the family trees, and beyond that, about the “reunification” of a clan that was torn apart in 1764 by thousands of miles. But, in fact, it formulates much more than that: the idea of political martyrdom by the Sibe in the interest of creating the Chinese national unity. It is through this story that I wish to provide an insight into how Chinese national unity was created.
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Several researches have been devoted to describing the national identity and inter-group prejudical attitudes of young people recently, as well as to the empirical justifiation of the relationship between them. In the domestic scientific literature we cannot find examples for a detailed and complex examination of the correlation between the existing types of national identity and prejudice or of their causality model based on some kind of socio-cultural attribute. So, using the 2017 datasurvey of the School and Society chain of researches that follows an identical concept and operationalization, we examined the relationship between identity and prejudicial attitudes in four such differing cities (Budapest, Debrecen, Pécs és Győr) where young people are supposedly surrounded socializational conditions of citizenship of differing caracter. We focus on the nation and citizen concept construction characterizing the secondary school-age youth of these cities not describing or taking into account the individual characteristics or the settlements as well as on the presentation of the relationship towards etnical/national minorities and nations together with their territorial differences. The conclusions of the analysis are to be used in an analysis that takes into account the individual characteristics of the young people surveyed in terms of socialization as well as the contextual characteristics of the cities.
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The article presents the analysis of the national socio-cultural space in the context of developing new philosophical and educational paradigms as the ways out of the educational crisis that is characterized by urgent necessity for creating a new system of training highly qualified specialists in the postmodern era, their ideological orientation meeting requirements and challenges of the globalized time. It focuses on the search for a new paradigm of national education, which is subject to the postmodern impacts with introduction of European ethical values and is determined by the moral status change of a modern identity and value orientations and is emphasized by the processes of globalization, the lag in the information space and the methodological crisis in the humanities as well. A new pragmatic and instrumental vector of philosophy of education is offered. It states that a powerful impulse to the personality’s development, humanity and civilization is given by the philosophical comprehension of the world formed by mastering philosophical knowledge in higher educational establishments. The article states that a new paradigm of education should consider philosophy as a general theory of education, the structure of philosophical knowledge being a "tool" of the teaching and educational process focused on a certain educational outcome, which is aimed at the formation of new philosophical systems of future specialists in accordance with the world changing and the development of planetary and space thinking to ensure the survival of humanity and civilization. This new educational paradigm based on the interaction of philosophy of education and training in the theoretical reconstruction of the communication forms and methods between generations makes it possible to define education as a purposeful cognitive activity of people to gain knowledge, skills and abilities and to improve them, it defines upbringing as a deliberate systematic formation of qualitative characteristics of a person by means of impacts. In the approaches to both education and training a key position is clearness of purpose, a uniting factor being an educational outcome which consists in forming intellectual and spiritual potential of a person. Pragmatic and instrumental orientation of a contemporary education interprets the worldview of the individual as the level of philosophical understanding of the world and identifies the cognitive richness of the worldview in the context of the spiritual dimensions of the individual, intra-personal and socially specified vectors of the individual’s value orientations are represented through the individual’s consciousness. Determination of the inner and socially specified values allows to distinguish a general direction of forming a hierarchy of the values, marked by the approval of the priority of human and humanistic principles in the context of psychological and pedagogical approaches to the problem of forming a new identity as an integral cultural entity . The most complete representative of the spiritual world is consciousness, because of its specificity and non-objectiveness (the presence of perception, demonstration and correlation of feelings, thoughts in each image). The main representatives of consciousness regarding the spiritual world of any individual are such characteristics as knowledge, intentionality, attention, self-report in one’s actions and unity expressed in the integrity of all components of the outer and inner experience. The formation of a new identity involves primarily the formation of valuable components of one’s worldview, which consists in understanding philosophical knowledge as a special spiritual phenomenon and identifying its place in culture, its relationship with other spiritual phenomena (the forms of social consciousness) – science, art, religion and so on. It follows that the system of education (from concept to meaningful content) must take into account and reconstitute the specificity of spirituality to the full: only in this case it can effectively solve the problem of forming an ethical and socially responsible individual. In pragmatic and instrumental targeting of higher education a separate problematic symptom of contemporary philosophical knowledge is the presence of its various theoretical constructions due to the phenomenon of virtual reality. In particular philosophical and theological knowledge significantly deepen understanding of the life matrix of a person as a universal mechanism of the integral energy structure creating a harmonious interaction between earthly and heavenly life plans. Basing on the energy life matrix of a person, we propose to define a semantic matrix of philosophical knowledge, which significantly expands the capacity of the individual’s consciousness and increases the level of spirituality, and thus of the humanity. The issue of spirituality today is a strategic one for the humanity from the position of necessity for its survival, because the understanding of spirituality influences not only a man but the society in the whole. Action of the mechanism of forming a new worldview of the individual is based on the global laws of the Universe: motion, energy exchange, cooperation, unity, logic of nature, critical mass, uncertainty. Philosophical knowledge matrix is based, respectively, on the triune basis of life: energy exchange, consciousness, spirituality. Energy exchange in a human life (and nature) occupies the main place and takes a directing role in life, moving a person to live, create, communicate and learn more. Understanding the law of energy exchange makes it possible to work out a strategy and tactics of forming the worldview of a new type of personality by means of philosophy. Thus, pragmatic and instrumental direction of philosophy of education consists in the dual role of philosophy in contemporary society : a new personality is formed by the categories of philosophy of education, and training is performed by means of philosophy in higher school.
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The article is devoted to the problem, which has put the issue of awareness of the importance of national interest in the process of modern nation. The basis of article consists of scientific approaches to understanding the concept of"national interest", defined by the signs of national interest, which include political, geographic, economic and cultural characteristics. In author’s opinion, the feature that defined in the article allows to isolate the state of the overall picture of the world, defining its uniqueness and individuality. Special attention is drawn to the author's definition of the main factors determining the national interest, the basic elements that have an impact on the calculation of national interest. The article reveals the essence of strategic culture, which includes historically-formed method of solving vital for the country's problems. In my opinion it is the strategic culture driven by national traditions, spatial, geographical location, outlook and worldview, historical experience. Strategic culture determines behavior of a country, management style, ability to mobilize in the event of protecting national interests. This paper analyzes the general theoretical aspects of the concept of national interest as defined by (William Gladstone, Hans Morgenthau, A. Thierry). The author emphasizes that it is due to the fact that in Ukraine there is no clear understanding of national interests, their fixed and variable components, there is an urgent need for understanding the national interest in the theoretical and practical levels (as informed public opinion concept). The author emphasizes that it is the formation of civil society in Ukraine, updates the consideration of the national interest in a new perspective. Given the purpose of the article, the author refers to the practice of forming national interest in Western Europe. The author believes that the approach to the definition of national interest depends on the logic of the West, which is the next logical chain: the public interest – the social interest – the national interest; Ukraine in the chain, according to the author has the following logic: state and national interests. Therefore, the author stresses the importance to incorporate the wishes and interests of different groups of civil society. The article reveals the needs of social development, which in author’s opinion is the basis of national interest. The main task in this context is a task that is associated with the transformation of the interests of individuals, social groups and groups that are interested in the aggregate national interest. Special attention is focused on the author's specifications of Ukrainian reality. The author notes that the time of independence allowed greatly expand the actual content of the culture, the value in the national interests of Ukraine. The factual material of citizens’ cultural interests, their place and role in the formation of national interests of Ukraine has been determined. The role and place of ideology in the national interest has been revealed. National interests in its essence must be higher than any ideology, as most serve as an ideology, taking over the functions of the latter. Analysis of the specific source base allowed the author to isolate certain number of components of the national interest in Ukrainian culture. This article analyzes the Ukrainian realities defined by their influence on the formation of national interest. According to the author it is essential to have consolidation of all interested parties of Ukrainian cultural state subjects to solve the problems. Activity of various actors who are interested in the development of Ukrainian culture is intended primarily to influence the conduct of the actual policy in the country, to promote coordination among all participants culturally creative process. The author says, there is a need to develop common organizational and legal principles with the general trends in the regulation of relations in the cultural politics of other countries. According to the author, the basis of government guarantees of the preservation and development of culture is public funding and therefore their legal regulation. The article ends with fundamental conclusions which allow determining the practical significance of theoretical positions discussed in the article. The author claims that, the formation of national interests is a long historical and evolutionary process that is carried out in a complex interplay of economic, social, national, mental and other factors that are combined to determine the content and nature of the cultural and historical experiences of the people. As such, the national interest is a socio-historical phenomenon and can not exist independently of the cultural awareness of their speakers. They have the closest relationship with the cultural identity of a particular nation. In order to build a democratic state and the realization of the above objectives, national interests must take into account not only the representatives of civil society, and most importantly – government agencies and officials. This activity should be aimed at improving the state mechanisms that would allow the foundation of any business to put national interest in priority.
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In recent years Ukrainian scientists have shown growing interest to the problem of formation of a national colorism school that has gained special importance in the period of Ukraine’s independence. At the times of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, creativity of Ukrainian colorists existed in conditions of political illusion of social realism with its orthodox requirements to promote the Soviet way of life. This socially-preconditioned specificity of the artistic climate limited the potential of creative choices, particularly topical. Thus, the independent way of the famous Transcarpathian painter Gavrylo Gluk (1912-1983) towards metaphorical generalizations of post-impressionism occurred under conditions of forced poverty of thematic repertoire. The author aims to find out the art techniques through which Gavrylo Gluk managed to integrate the principles of post-impressionism colorism in plot area of social realism. In addressing this issue, the author clarifies the circumstances of Gavrylo Gluk's artistic biography, which ultimately determined the priorities for his future individual outlook. As demonstrated by the processing of the master's artistic legacy, thematic restrictions of creativity did not prevent the colorist from realizing his talent in due time. However, it forced the painter to resort to professional tricks and mask ideas of purely coloristic competence under the "guise" of social problems. Research of Gavrylo Gluk's paintings dating to 1960-1980-s leads to a conclusion that the system of individual creative priorities in the area of composition was optimally realized in painting "The Evening" (1964) and "The Watchman" (1972). Studies in Hungary during 1926-1933 was of utmost importance for Gavrylo Gluk's professional growth. At the turn of the 19th-20th centuries reinvention of the local coloristic school took place in Hungarian artistic environment. During the 1870s, a group of Hungarian Impressionists was formed (Béla Iványi-Grünwald, István Csók, Károly Ferenczy, Pál Szinyei Merse, Simon Hollósy), and the circle of Hungarian post-Impressionists developed in the first decade of the 1900s (Adolf Fényes, Izsák Perlmutter, József Rippl-Rónai). A research of paintings from the collection of the Hungarian National Gallery confirms that the trends of the Hungarian colorism on the brink of the 19th-20th centuries made a tangible impression on Gavrylo Gluk's works. The research findings show that the formal structure of Gavrylo Gluk's compositions was influenced by the approaches of József Koszta (1861–1949). The artist’s works from the collection of the Hungarian National Gallery "In the Field" (1904), "Before the Storm" (1909), "Cleaning the Grain" (1917) are built on the dominance of dramatic effects which the author realized through the use of light and tonal contrasts. To maximize the dramatic impression, the Hungarian artist used counter light. A comparison of compositionality principles in Gavrylo Gluk's works "The Evening" and "The Watchman" with the above paintings by József Koszta shows obvious parallels. The analysis of Gavrylo Gluk’s compositions makes it possible to conclude that his creative growth was influenced by the leading trends of Hungarian painting on the brink of the 19th-20th centuries. The research of museum works dating back to 1870–1920 from the collection of the Hungarian National Gallery showed that Hungarian artists often associated the idea of asserting national colorism with folk themes (Adolf Fényes "Brothers", 1906; Károly Ferenczy "The Stableman", 1899; Sándor Nyilasi "In the Field", 1898; Simon Hollósy "Cleaning Corn", 1885). Folk themes were not realized by colorists in folk and genre focus, but were globalized to a scale of national events. While staying in the artistic environment of Hungary, the Ukrainian painter often saw paintings of Hungarian authors, where the image of simple peasants was idealized as a national hero archetype. The atmosphere of Soviet censorship has made adjustments to the work of the artist who dedicated eleven years of his life to Socialist Realism (1947-1958). However, after a period of social adaptation the artist chose his own path of personal development, helped by the historical changes of the Khrushchev "thaw". Gavrylo Gluk’s desire to create symbolic archetypes channeled his attention to authentic carriers of Ukrainian tradition – peasants. In the circumstances of thematic constraints of Socialist Realism Gavrylo Gluk implemented his own ideas in prototypes of Soviet farmers, who remained ordinary peasants by nature – eternal owners of the Ukrainian land. This resulted in the assimilation of post-impressionism colorism with the plot area of social realism. Images of peasants naturally became part of Gavrylo Gluk's creative interests when he was still young and studied in Budapest. Under complicated historical circumstances, a compromise between the social demand and individual need found an unexpected escape at the intersection of the public and private coordinates, which became possible in the conditions of democratic renewal in 1660-s.
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This paper provides some starting points for analyzing the connection between higher education and national competitiveness. It uses data gained from international competitiveness and education surveys. According to such data, the position of higher education is somewhat better in Hungary compared to the ranking of the country generally. However, it is a sad fact that Hungary’s position has been deteriorating in both rankings since the turn of the millennium; and it is shown, too, that there is a quite strong relationship between general competitiveness and different indicators pertaining to higher education – which fact which underlines the importance of a proper and suitable higher education policy.
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In the article the state of scientific discussion in the works of Ukrainian scholars on determination of priority factors of forming of civil society in Ukraine in the frameworks of main problems of foundation of Ukrainian political nation and Ukrainian independent state. An important role of nationalism and national identity as socio-cultural factors of forming of civil society in Ukraine is shown.
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Papp Z. Attila (szerk.): Változó kisebbség. Mathias Corvinus Collegium – MTA Társadalomtudományi Kutatóközpont, Kisebbségkutató Intézet, Bp., 2017.
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Into the investigation reflection to the activities of the Novgorod-Siverskіy patriotic society «autonomous» of the end XVIII – the first half XIX-th century into the context of the national culturality and elevated to the national consciousness of the Ukrainian people. Also represent music-cultural life on the territorial at the Novgorod-Siverskіy region this is period’ and, first of all, the role Novgorod-Siverskіy patriotic society into the preservation and development to the Ukrainian national culture.
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In the article an author analyses activity of society «Education» from the end of XIX to a XX determines its figures and their payment in alteration of Ukrainian nation. Outlines subsequent development of activity of society on the modern stage.
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