Around the Bloc: Melania Trump Speech Unleashes Nasty Academic Debate
South Slavic scholars jump all over Polish-American professor’s claim of an inborn East European tendency to cheat.
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South Slavic scholars jump all over Polish-American professor’s claim of an inborn East European tendency to cheat.
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Youth political participation via state-sponsored institutional settlements has always been considered a goal of youth policies, representing a means of creating politically active and caring citizens. Throughout Europe, however, the number of politically active young people seems to be diminishing, with youth frequently described as apathetic and disengaged. While a growing body of academic research has concentrated on exploring the reasons behind political inactivity, this article explores the motivation and activities of some of the young people who are involved in institutionalised youth organisations, asking if the meanings behind institutional political participation are undergoing a process of change together with the rest of the society. Based on qualitative in-depth interviews, participant observation and analysis of documents (including online communication) collected as part of the research project MYPLACE, we examine the meanings young people attach to their participation. We show that the character of these organisations and motivations behind participation are miscellaneous; sometimes strikingly similar to the forms of participation not traditionally associated with political activism but rather ascribed to disengaged youth.
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The paper presents findings of the comparative study on relationships between remembrance story-telling and the transitional reconstruction of political identities. It identifies in which areas and fields of impact governments tend to use interpretations of the past to promote new leadership visions of society. Moreover, it verifies theoretical hypotheses related to the politicised remembrance and its role as a political asset during transformations, as well as it considers the theoretical framework of democracy-building (and a common prediction of its universal character). As a result, the study offers a detailed picture of the way remembrance narratives are transformed into explanations, justifications or legitimisation of new, post-authoritarian identities based on qualitative-to-quantitative analysis of the intensity of story-telling and its links with transitional identity politics. In the conclusion, the Authors present their consideration of research findings, and they discuss it with reference to the nature of transitional government’s remembrance policy as a sphere of social influence.
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The change of the political regime in Czechoslovakia, called the Velvet Revolution, is considered as a success story of transformation after 1989. However, in nowadays Czech Republic, the Communist Party still exists – this is the only such case among democratic countries of Central Europe. It makes us ask the question: is the Velvet Revolution completed? The author treats the activities of the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia as a criterion for the assessment of changes in the Czech Republic after 1989 and wonders how strong for the assessment of the transformation influences the relics of the former regime. He stresses that transformation in the Czech Republic can’t be assessed on a comparative scale, because pace and effects of changes were different in different countries, as different was the nature of the previous regimes. The author concludes that the existence of the Communist Party is the natural element of contemporary political reality of the Czech Republic, which negates the achievements of transformation in no way.
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The exclusive interview with Mr Lech Wałęsa, the legendary leader of “Solidarity” Trade Union, the Noble Peace Prize Laureate in 1983 and the President of Poland from 1990 to 1995, on the state of democracy in Poland and Europe presents Mr Wałęsa’s perspective on challenges that contemporary political leaders have to face. It discusses four major areas: a historical consideration of Poland’s post–communist transformation, a today’s perspective on democracy in Poland, an evaluation of country’s role in the united Europe and a discussion of processes that threat democracy in Poland and Europe. In the interview, Mr Wałęsa shares his hopes and fears, and he presents main ideas for the new political times. His assessments do not focus only on the today’s state of democracy, but he also tries to consider how the democracy may look like in the future. As a result the Polish Political Science Yearbook publishes a unique conversation with the legend of the struggle against Communist dictatorships in Europe that shows Mr Wałęsa’s personal remarks on the democracy, the globalised World and modern technologies.
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This paper presents preliminary findings on memories from the period of post-socialist transformation and on related narrative constructs of agency in autobiographical interviews with practicing lawyers from Poland and Russia. The study is based on 25 interviews with individuals born in the late-1930-s, 1940-s and 1950-s. Six different types of narrative accounts about the period of post-socialist transformations are identified and described: (i) trailblazer narratives; (ii) follower narratives; (iii) narratives of volatility; (iv) narratives of continuity; (v) latecomer narratives and (vi) narratives of social decay.
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This article describes the developments of the Hungarian party system in two radically different periods, the “democratic chaos” when there was a democratic yet weak government, and the subsequent “electoral autocracy” which saw a semi-authoritarian government. The first party system, between 1987 and 2010, was indeed both democratic and dynamic but because the state was unable to come to grips with the huge complexity of the systemic transformation it was fragile and chaotic too. But as a result of their great dissatisfaction, Hungarians were not ready to defend democracy against the attack of populist forces, so that by 2010 the second party system emerged based on a special version of authoritarianism. It was an electoral autocracy in which the ruling party comes to power through electoral manipulations, and supreme power is concentrated in the hands of very few individuals.
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This paper focuses on contemporary mining industry situation of two civilizations: West (Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand) and East (Russia and Rest of post-soviet area). Analysis conducted in this paper shows changes in production output of most mineral resources in years of general prosperity (2001-2007) as well as years of crisis (2008-2012). All data were collected from two sources: USGS and BGS. Main aim of analysis was comparative description of future perspectives of world economy. Besides collected data were useful for studies in geoeconomics, resource and energy security of both cultural/military blocks. Reported inequalities in mineral production were shown in tables as well as specially prepared maps, what puts this paper in good position as start-point of any discussion about future security, geopolitics and geoeconomics of those two parts of the world.
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The decision on the formation of the Latvian National Guard (Zemessardze) was made in August 1991. Men who were not Latvian citizens were also invited to join the Zemessardze at first, as the Citizenship Act had not yet been passed and the Supreme Council of Latvia wanted to involve loyal non-citizens in national defence. In December 1991 there were ca 10,000 men in the 34 battalions of the Zemessardze.
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In the early 1990s not a single Western government agreed to sell arms to the newly independent Estonia. As the constitutional government of Mart Laar (1992) declared a strong interest in Western collective security, even NATO membership, Soviet weapons became unacceptable and insupportable. In contrast,a plentiful supply of highly vaunted Western arms was considered a guarantee for the Republic’s continued independence and a precondition for future acceptance in Western security policy structures – and ultimately membership in NATO.
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Kosovo is a Balkan country which Turkey has historic, cultural and economic relations. United Nations Interim Administration (UNMIK) was established in Kosovo in 1999 after the domestic war with Serbs. Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in February 2008 as Republic of Kosovo. UNMIK administration was partly handed over to European Union (EU) after the declerance of independece in 2008. While the laws have been approving regarding the local governments by the Parliament of Kosovo, the international charters that were approved by EU and European Couıncil were accepted as basic regulations. Kosovo has signed the Stabilisation and Association Agreement with EU in 2015. Local governments which are also crucial instruments of societies’ for integrating to administration and establishing democracy are facing problems in Kosovo such as inadeguate economic sources, lack of experience in administration, inadequency in auditing and high rate of corruption. The aim of this study is to review the recent local administration and economic structures, auditing methods and public participation in local government administration in Kosovo and to give recommendations for the problems encountered. Descriptive Research Method was used in this study.
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The following article includes thoughts and ideas formulated at a universitylecture presented for the students and teaching staff, from the History andGeography Department of State University “Ion Creangă” from Chişinău, at thebeginning of 2016 year of study. The research provides a new attempt to reviewthe sources of contemporary international conflicts. The author considers thatthe enormous conflicting potential of the today world undermines internationalpeace and security, which concerns academic society, political elites and civicorganizations from all over the globe. The ongoing interest of academics andlikewise, of multitude of publications signed by prominent scientists presentingdifferent points of view on the premises of international conflicts and theirimpact on evolution of international relations, is clearly outstanding.
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Children in war benefit from the general protection of international humanitarian law as civilians or combatants in any sort of conflict. Despite that fact, it is obvious that the Army of the Republic of Srpska during the war against the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina 1992-1995, highly violated fundamental rights of children by depriving them of the right to life, education, of electricity, water and food supplies, having them wounded and their home destroyed.
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The author discusses how the concept of “national identity” has been defined and expressed throughout different ages, peoples and schools of thought. The relation between religious, class-based, or national identity and political ideologies is being carefully observed, starting from the medieval period into the modern age, not only in Europe, but also in the East. What happens with national identity? Is it, based on old social science schools, inherited or acquired? Here appears one of the initial distinctions between two opposing concepts of the national identity: the German understanding, originating from J. Fichte and the German romantics, according to which a nation is linked by a common origin, the common identity of the people, history and language (Volksgeist) versus the Franco-American school, which originated in the French revolution, stating that a nation is built not on common history, but is rather a societal outcome, being based on politics, adherence to the values of the Republic and loyalty to the state. In the contemporary period the French concept has been predominant and was taken over by the American school of thought. One of its main ideas is that peoples, more precisely the populations, who suffered from an initial lack of traditions of state governance and from a deficit of native intellectuals, as a result of their political situation, did not succeed to consolidate into genuine nations. Furthermore, the development of national identity in the current Republic of Moldova is being thoroughly analysed. Finally, the phenomenon of self-identification of the Bessarabians is rigorously analysed, based on a scholarly and historically centred approach.
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The paper focuses on the current history of Chisinau as a city in the making, cementation and promoting its credibility and image in the national and international arena. It analyses the soviet time city when Chisinau was intensively urbanized, industrialized, denationalized and russificated at all levels, particularly administration, education, church and public space. The article looks at Chisinau from the prospect of its transformation from a Soviet capital to a European city, a process that has been lasting for more than twenty years since Moldova gained its independence and appearing not yet completed. It examines the impact of the Soviet past on the urban landscape and dwellers’ mentality and analyses the city’ transition toward Europeanization through the prism of facts and events that occurred in Chisinau over the last years. This study aims at answering several basic questions. Among them: What principles tsarist and Soviet authorities have been guided in projecting the city of Chisinau? What was the propaganda role in building the image of the Soviet Chisinau? How the city-capital of Chisinau has been shaped through planning, building controls, russification and heritage? What has Chisinau inherited from its Soviet past and how the transition/transformation process to Europeanization takes place in Chisinau? And how the capital city inhabitants express their sense of belonging to Chisinau?
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Bronisław Wildstein is a contemporary Polish novelist and journalist. A former dissident engaged with the Solidarity labor movement, he is the recipient of many prizes including the highest award of the Republic of Poland: the Order of the White Eagle (2016). The opening pages of his novel Past Continuous (Czas niedokonany, 2011) initiate the major plot lines of the novel, a work that is autobiographical yet at the same time expresses better than any other work of fiction the societal dilemmas of late communism and postcommunism. Past Continuous, presently being translated into English is a grand narrative that brings to mind Boris Pasternak’s Doctor Zhivago and Vasilii Grossman’s Forever Flowing.
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This paper explores the relationship between migration, entrepreneurship, and foreign direct investments by focusing on entrepreneurial activities of post-Soviet (im)migrants in Hungary in periods between 1991 and 2016. Post-Soviet migrants are in focus because between 1956 and 1989 the Soviet Union coercively kept Hungary in the Socialist bloc. Based on surveys and in-depth interviews, this paper reveals that there are considerable differences in patterns of entrepreneurship among post-Soviet immigrant entrepreneurs depending mostly on time of their arrival to Hungary. Similarly, motives for entrepreneurship among the first-wave migrants combine negative factors in the former Soviet Union with positive factors encountered in Hungary, while factors in Hungary recognized as positive by most post-Soviets prevail in motives for later waves of post-Soviet migration and entrepreneurship in Hungary. The paper also demonstrates that many relatively small investments have been conducted since 2000 by citizens of post-Soviet countries to Hungary. Some of them are transforming into an entrepreneurial activity, serving also as a basis for immigration to Hungary.
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