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The trend in Turkey’s politics toward “electoral authoritarianism” is rooted in the long history of modernization. Tensions between traditional society and modernizing elites (with strong links to the military) resulted in the series of military coups in the 20th century and weak civilian regimes. The originality of the rule of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) since its coming to power in 2002 is that it has been able to consolidate the support of less privileged strata and to establish full control over the state. How durable is this system remains an open question.
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The Arctic has been affected by the climate change stimulated institutionalisation of cooperation among ‘Arctic nations’, and the Arctic Council has been influential toward a peaceful future. The purpose of the paper is to analyse the Council as a regional intergovernmental organisation facilitating nonviolent cooperation and collaborative solutions toward the Arctic, preserving its ecosystems and natural environment. The research questions are how the Council deals multidimensionally with the Arctic and what is conflict potential due to security developments. The thesis is that the Council is effectively performing its missions as a cooperation forum despite differing agendas among members and observes. One of the reasons is that the military aspect is not included in the agenda. The paper is based on qualitative research founded on academic papers and official documents, including member states and observer nations’ perspectives and positions toward the region and Council. The assumption is that the Council must distinguish between individual national and shared goals to preserve peaceful cooperation. The teamwork is essential but is increasingly complicating as of differing nations’ agendas. The paper is contributing to systematise the perception of the Council and the challenges it is facing.
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The subject of the article is the assessment of statistical data on the operational activity of British and Polish secret services against the background of perception of terrorist threats and current case law of courts and tribunals. The purpose of the article is to present a socially important problem, which is the correlation between the perception of terrorist threats by citizens and their awareness of the degree of violation of human and civil rights and freedoms in the name of combating terrorism. The main research methods used in this work include the dogmatic and legal methods and statistical data analysis. The conclusions of the conducted research are observations of changes in the perception of terrorist threats, which result to a large extent from the problem of the migration crisis and from the experience of a given country in carrying out terrorist attacks on their territory. The article, through the analysis of domestic and international case law, indicates the need for further development of research on limiting the rights and freedoms of the individual in order to ensure security.
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Some reminiscences of Adam Michnik on Jerzy J. Wiatr and Zygmunt Bauman and some other public scholars at the time of the Polish People’s Republic and after its peaceful demise in 1989/1990. Main topics of the discussion between Adam Michnik and Jacek Raciborski concern the dynamics of the social and political changes that led to the regime change, the tension between their spontaneity and their conceptualization, social and psychological contexts of decision making at that time, and the issue of responsibility of people handing over power peacefully: if and how let them be a part of the transition without punishing them for previous crimes.
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The article regards and analyses examples from the new musical creation, inspired by the COVID-19 pandemic. Those examples are published on the global network and contain some intrinsic features of folklore. The most important among these features is the reaction to events or occurrences from the current life of society. Object of analysis is also the activity of certain cultural institutions, such as community centres (chitalishta), schools, dancing or hobby clubs, retired people’s clubs and schools for folklore singing and folklore instruments, during the pandemic. The author also features some cases of postponing or cancellation of festival activities on local level and the performance of local non-professional artists in such shows.
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Né à Turnu-Severin (Roumanie) en 1942, fils de Nicolae Foarță, médecin, et de Yvonne Foarță, née Burger, professeure de musique, Șerban Foarță a fait ses études à la Faculté de Philologie de l’Université de Timișoara (1960-1965), spécialisation roumain-allemand. En 1978, il a soutenu sa thèse de doctorat en littérature dans le cadre de la même université, thèse publiée deux années plus tard : Eseu asupra poeziei lui Ion Barbu [‘Essai sur la poésie d’Ion Barbu’], Timișoara, éditions Facla, 1980. Il a été professeur à la Faculté des Lettres de l’Université de l’Ouest,à Timișoara, de 1992 à 2005. Membre de l’Union des Écrivains de Roumanie, Șerban Foarță est premièrement poète, essayiste, prosateur et critique littéraire. Il est trèsconnu pour sa poésie qui, lui a valu non seulement desprix littéraires mais surtout une large reconnaissance auprès de ses lecteurs: Simpleroze (Timișoara, éditions Facla,1978); Șalul, eșarpele Isadorei / Șalul e șarpele Isadorei (Bucarest,éditions Litera, 1978); Holorime (Bucarest, éditionsLitera, 1986) et nombre d’autres volumes après 1989. Il atraduit en vers les livres poétiques de la Bible (Hexachordos: Psalmii. Ecleziastul. Cantarea Cantarilor. Iov. Psalmii lui Solomon. Odele, pre stihuri retocmite; Timișoara, éditions Brumar, 2011). Il a traduit des poèmes de la littérature française médiévale, y compris les fatrasies de Philippede Beaumanoir (dans la plaquette 33 de fatrazii, Bucarest,éditions Art, 2008). Cependant son début en tantque poète, avant la publication de la première plaquette (Texte pentru Phoenix, Bucarest, éditions Litera, 1976) s’est fait dans deux LP. Ses vers ont été enregistrés par Phoenix en 1974 (Mugur de Fluier) et 1976 (Cantafabule).
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In 2015, a serious crisis called the “refugee crisis” took place. Migrations had already taken place before, primarily in connection with armed conflicts, but the largest number of asylum applications was received in 2015 and was therefore described as the beginning of the crisis. One of the apprehensions in the European Union Member States about the reception of migrants was cultural differences and religion. The purpose of this study is to determine violations of various types of religious freedoms in all the EU Member States. The period 2015-2019 was considered in connection with the largest influx of refugees and before the next crisis on a huge scale, i.e., the coronavirus pandemic. The study will provide an answer to the question: what religious freedoms were violated in the years 2015-2019 in the EU Member States? In connection with increased migrations, were there more violations of the types of religious freedom related to refugees? The source analysis of the United States Department of State reports was used for the study. An assessment of restrictions on religious freedom will be made at the level of what extent and against whom were supposed to protect political nations. On this basis, it will be possible to compare all countries in terms of solutions characteristic of neo-militant democracies regarding respect for religious freedom.
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The recent minorities in Sibiu are at an early stage in the development of organizational structures, trying to make their voice heard regarding certain issues that affect its members.This policy paper aims to facilitate the offer of public policies solutions for the recent minorities in Sibiu: Arab, Bessarabian, Ukrainian, and Chinese, to identify solutions that may have a common denominator, to establish a way of cooperation, and to inspire the development of joined projects. As a result of the workshop, the policy paper will be sent to the institutions and authorities with attributions in this field.
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Review of: Faces, icons and books for the soul: Moldavians in Ukraine, Ukrainians in Moldavia. Testimonies of sacred art; 16th-19th centuries, exhibition organized by the Metropolitan Museum of Iași between April 14 and August 14, 2022, to support Ukrainian refugees. Vladimir Ivanovici and Alice Isabella Sullivan (eds), Natural Light in Medieval Churches, Series: East Central and Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 450-1450, Volume 88 Leiden and Boston, Brill, 2023 Daniela Marcu Istrate, Church Archaeology in Transylvania. (ca. 950 to ca. 1450), Leiden and Boston, Brill, 2022, 522 p. Daniela Marcu Istrate, Dan Ioan Mureșan and Gabriel Tiberiu Rustoiu (eds), Christianization in Early Medieval Transylvania. The Oldest Church in Transylvania and Its Interpretation, Leiden and Boston, Brill, 2022, 499 p. Mihail K. Qaramah, O istorie a Molitfelnicului Românesc. Evoluția formularelor Sfintelor Taine (sec. xvi-xvii) [A History of the Romanian Euchologion: The Evolution of the formularies of the Sacraments (16th -17th c.)], Alba Iulia, Editura Reîntregirea, 2022, 310 p.
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The article explores the impact of the miner strike movement in Donbas on the post--communist transition in Ukraine from 1989 to 1994. By focusing on the Donbas strike movement, its relationship with the nationalist intelligentsia, and a later co-optation of its mobilizing potential by regional elites, it provides an analysis of the agency of bottom-up social forces operating within a particular cultural framework during the transition period. The striking miners played a significant role in the reclamation of Ukrainian independence in 1991. Building on this momentum, Donbas politicians were able to politicize the already existing socio-cultural diversity of Ukrainian society and to define the fundamental political cleavage in Ukraine in self-serving, regionalist terms.
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This review aims to bring together two private museums whose theme is largely similar: life in a communist country. The exhibition of the Museum of Memories from Communism in Brașov responded to the shortcomings in Romanian state-owned museums to cover a timeframe from recent history. To put the exhibition into perspective, after I present it and consider its museological features, I briefly bring into discussion the DDR Museum from Berlin. I focus not only on the visible part of the two – that is, the exhibition, but I also go backstage after connecting with those responsible for these two private museological endeavors, in order to discern the collecting undertakings and their role in the wider frame of museums landscape in a former communist country. Finally, after my visiting experience with both exhibitions and an unwilling / unfortunate entanglement with communist practices that are still up and running (the almost-failure of having a form stamped), I reflect on the role of a museum in providing deeper understanding of socio-cultural practices that affect our (not only institutional) lives up to our days.
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The 2003 Convention and Its Implementation in Bulgaria
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The geopolitical stability of the world is usually undermined by contemporary rivalry between states. However, the Bougainville province independence movement may be considered as the peculiarity of world order, where new statehood will appear in a brand new context of independence struggle within a multiethnic state created by the decolonization process. The aim of the study is to review the genesis, course and impact of the conflict in the province of Bougainville in Papua New Guinea in accordance with other separatisms in Southeast Asia and the Pacific area. The main methods utilized for the most important factors comparison and description are the geographic descriptive synthesis method and geopolitical risk analytics, with the help of the cartographic method and sources databases comparison. The social, political and economic situation of Bougainville, which occurred after the opening of the copper and gold mines, was analyzed. The paper presents the effects of the development of the mining industry on the island. The process of destabilization on the island and its impact on the beginning of the armed conflict in Bougainville were discussed. The work also shows the situation after the end of the war and reviews the course and impact of the referendum in Bougainville. It should answer as to whether this separatism is a new type of secessionist movement, or rather, it is a normally occurring process with peculiar conclusions of being successful. It turns out that most of the political, social, and economic factors were specific, so this independence movement is rather peculiar and may be initial for new secessionist rebellions and incoming tendencies in the region or the whole world.
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The problems of constructing a new national identity and preserving Russia’s influence in the post-Soviet space have become now particularly relevant in the framework of the global confrontation with the West and special military operation in Ukraine. The purpose of the article is to analyze public opinion and political discourse regarding the geopolitical future of Russia in the context of modern conflicts of a regional and international nature.The empirical basis of the article is the results of the sociological monitoring How are you, Russia (1992–2024) and the data of content analysis of mass media during 2014 and 2022. The sociological monitoring survey allowed to study the dynamics of citizens’ perceptions of the geopolitical future of the Russian Federation and to trace the connection of the main trends with the indicators of consolidation of society included in the toolkit. The mass media discourse showed the strengthening of neo-imperial topics and allusions. The preservation of the integrity of the Russian Federation and its sovereignty in the long term does not cause doubts among population, even in the conditions of a crisis and an uncertain future associated with the formation of a multipolar world. Optimistic scenarios are considered, emphasizing the strengthening of Russia’s role in the new world order, and pessimistic ones, reflecting isolation models of development. Russia’s powerful progressive development in the future is associated with arguments and ideologems about Russia’s special path, the uniqueness of Russian civilization, which became one of the main topics in the Russian political discourse.
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This article discusses the prospect of the transition of the Chinese-American rivalry into an open, all out war. The problem arises from the experience of history – two leading powers eventually refer to war in order to assume their, one of them, strategic and political primacy within the relevant international order of their time. The present situation – after a demise of the international liberal order – of confrontation between the US and China is being compared to the so-called Thucidydes’s trap, which is the reference to the Peloponnesian war. The author is challenging both the comparison and the inevitability of the war between the Big Two, without however totally excluding the possibility of some military demonstrations of their resolve to push for or to defend their global status. Reasons for such an assessment are based upon negative (nuclear capabilities) and positive (economy, development) interdependence factors between the only two superpowers and the nature of the contemporary international environment, complex and tight, which will be preventing the Big Two from sliding into the world war, disastrous for all.
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From the time it was colonized to the present day, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has neither experienced democracy nor lasting peace and stability. Instead, it has all the qualitative attributes of a fragile state. Empirically, the beginnings of a fragile state are linked to rebellions which led to civil wars and thereafter took on a long-run trend with the capture and exploitation of resources. For example, diamonds in Sierra Leone, oil in Sudan and South Sudan and rare metals in DRC. Fragility stems from being in conflict repeatedly, a sign of a vicious cycle where conflict generates grievance and grievance generates further conflict. However recurring conflicts are also often driven by greed for resources whose control can fund a conflict ad infinitum especially if the resources are in demand globally. Hence the conflict becomes internationalized. The entry of international players is based on predatory opportunities to control commodity exports. Because the conflict also displaces people (and creates a rebellious diaspora), especially those with influence and money, these grievances fuel the discontent of diaspora which mobilizes funds to finance the conflict further.
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The Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict has been a visible constant on the international stage since 1988. On the Armenian side, the commemoration of the genocide of 1915 and the Soviet decision to attach Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijan in 1921 appeared to be the main drivers to produce and reproduce „groupness”. Whereas Armenian nationalist narratives had first been silenced and then mitigated during the Soviet era, they have become decisive since the dissolution of the USSR. Armenian ethnopolitical entrepreneurs exploited them to establish a new political legitimacy. With the wars in 2020 and 2023, the tide turned in favour of Azerbaijan, as it managed to reconquer Nagorno-Karabakh and expel its Armenian population. Now, Azerbaijan appears as the main driver of the conflict when it utters claims for a corridor to Nakhchivan through the Armenian territory.
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