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The article analyses the activity of Valdemaras Vytautas Čarneckis (1893–1942), Minister of Foreign Affairs who sought to resolve the issues of the Lithuanian foreign affairs policy in 1924–1925.
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Local policy in urban areas is a topic frequently undertaken in sociological literature. One of the analyzed areas is “grassroots” activity of citizens. It can be stated that it is developed on many levels: while using social media, participatory budget or getting involved in political organizations. Such activities are undertaken for example in Bialoleka, a district in the north-eastern part of Warsaw. In this paper, the thesis is made that the intensity of the activity is related to development of infrastructure. On the basis of the research carried out in 2015 and 2016, authors argue that the lack of subjective satisfaction with infrastructure boosts social activity and institutional participation while in contrary – the participatory activities may be suppressed and focused on inner integration when such an assessment turns out to be mainly positive.
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The intensity of the tax control regarding the compliance with the VAT legislation has a direct impact on the amount of revenues from VAT in the state budget. In recent years the practice of the National Revenue Agency related to VAT treatment of the transfer of shares in companies owning immovable properties is rather ambiguous. Based on recent Supreme Administrative Court and ECJ decisions upcoming changes in the legislation could be expected.
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Regional headlines: Russia stands by Belarus; wolfish corruption in Ukraine; David vs. Goliath in Tajikistan; prisons and COVID-19 in Kazakhstan.
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How COVID-19 exposed governance gaps in authoritarian states, with Belarus at the top of the list.
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This introduction to the special section on Poland’s wars of symbols analyzes the symbolic contestation that has characterized the country in recent years, studying a range of phenomena including nation, gender, memory, and religious symbolism within the overall framework of political conflict. In doing so, it offers a multidisciplinary view on political fractures that have resonated throughout Europe and the “West.” Overall, the four case studies in this section study ways in which national symbols, topoi, and narratives have been deployed as tools in drawing and redrawing boundaries within society, polarizing and mobilizing the political camps as well as contesting and resisting power. These studies enable us to situate recent political events in a historical perspective, mapping the rise of populism in Poland against the background of legacies specific to the East-Central European region.
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Karl Renner’s theory of national autonomy has not been sufficiently taken into account by scholars due to difficulties in its reception and puzzling content. Neither liberal nor communitarian, his original theory combines individual rights with collective rights, territorial autonomy with personal autonomy, classical federalism with establishment of nations as constituent parts of the state. This paper will introduce the reader to Renner’s main concepts. It will start by presenting Renner’s ideas on the nation, the multinational state, the role of the majority principle, and the need for nations’ legal recognition by and within the state. Then, Renner’s core notion of national autonomy and its organisation through the personality principle will be discussed. Further, the paper deals with Renner’s concept of the representation of national interests at the federal or supranational levels. Lastly, it sums up the discussion and draws conclusions regarding Renner’s theory of autonomy in general.
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The aim of this study is to analyse the operational characteristics of Hungarian nongovernmental organizations in Slovakia. The first part of the study provides an overview of the domestic and international trends; it elaborates on the traits of organizational culture and the emergence of the not-for-profit sector and aid policy. The paper then describes the research objective of the study and the methodology and research methods used. The last, most extensive part is devoted to a detailed overview of the research results and summarized the research conclusions. On the one hand, the study found mostly minimal differences between the members of the NGOs by sex, education and age. On the other hand, for each category, significant differences were observed based on the time spent in the organization.
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Hungarian regime change in 1989, the number of Hungarians in contiguous territorial areas has decreased by nearly three hundred thousand. This outmigration is even the case for youth with strong national identities in Székelyand. The target countries were Hungary first and then Western European states. The process is fueled not only by the hope of a better life abroad, but also by the current national policy in Hungary. Due to the latter, the self-determination of Hungarians in Romania is increasingly towards an independent Székely national identity, differentiating them from both Romanian and Hungarian national identities. The research focused on the three important elements of the emerging Szekely identity: language, lifestyle, and homeland. The research sought to isolate the role of territorial identity towards Székelyland, as a source of strong national and ethnic identity among Székely youth (18–35 year olds). The research, based on a secondary analysis of previous large-scale representative youth surveys and a recent questionnaire survey, provided the basis for a series of focus group interviews. The analysis revealed a particular interpretation of the Székely identity, which makes it impossible to develop a universally applicable method to promote the return. However, the strengthening of economic, service and cultural aspects of territorial identity can offer hope for reducing outmigration and promoting the return to the native land.
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Euro-orphan/EU orphan is a neologism naming left behind children when the parents leave hearth and home for some time to find employment abroad. The study of children that have been left behind in the field of social sciences is still at an early stage of development. It only uses limited research of a larger database of EU orphans, their mothers, fathers, and grandparents. The paper presents the results of a 2019 survey whose primary aim was to reveal Transcarpathian Hungarian EU orphans’ risk behavior. It tries to answer two main questions: (1) what are the basic statistics of 14–17 year olds in transnational Transcarpathian Hungarian families, and (2) what deviations can be seen within the main theme of the research in the data of children that were left behind compared to the youth brought up in a traditional family model, i.e. what are the negative consequences of the parents’ (father or mother) employment abroad? Our analysis is not comprehensive; numerous questions are left unanswered and will form the subject matter of further research.
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The impact of Brexit is strategic. Several governmental institutions must redefine and revise their relations with the European Union (EU); and consider some critical resolutions to avoid prejudicial fragmentation in the post-Brexit security cooperation model. Focusing on internal security and law-enforcement co-ordination with the EU, the paper argues that the EU’s approach to future security partnerships reflects common concerns, such as the fight against terrorism and other types of trans-national organised crime. On the other hand, the United Kingdom (UK) will no longer be bound by the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights (CFR) after the Brexit transition period. This poses substantial challenges for the EU and the UK, concerning future agreements on judicial co-operation in cross-border policing and trans-national criminal investigations. From this perspective, it is vital to decide how the data exchange regime and operational collaboration between the British authorities and respective EU agencies are organised. It would be rational to expect that the UK will actively search for closer bilateral ties with several EU member states and potential new partners, to maintain its international position and cross-border security interests.
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The main goal of this study is to contribute to the academic debate concerning EU-NATO relations and to consider the main sources of difficulties in their relationship. In particular, this analysis takes into account the possible role of the strategic documents of both organisations in future cooperation. Consequently, the first part of the article concentrates on dilemmas related to EU-NATO relations referred to in the existing literature. The second part contains an analysis of the development of these relations, while the third describes the presumptive impact of the NATO Strategic Concept and the Global Strategy for the EU’s Foreign and Security Policy on cooperation between the two organisations. The conclusion underlines that the process of implementing the strategic documents should have positive effects on EU-NATO relations. However, the question arises whether and how this process is continued.
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Romania’s presidential elections in 2019 were considered a major rehearsal for the 2020 parliamentary and local elections. The present president, Klaus Iohannis, and the National Liberal Party (PNL) hoped that their electoral win in the presidential elections would put them into the leading position the 2020 parliamentary elections. The main challengers, Viorica Dăncilă the candidate of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), and Dan Barna, the candidate of the Save Romania Alliance (USR) also targeted their electorates with the 2020 elections in mind. The leader of the Democratic Alliance of the Hungarians in Romania, Hunor Kelemen knew he had no chance to become president of Romania. His main goal for being a candidate was to mobilize the Hungarian minority electorate.
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This paper examines the digital behaviour on one widely used instant messaging (IM) platform, namely WhatsApp, of young people in Romania, with a focus on the reasons for sharing information on the platform and dependency of using it. Within the broad framework of the digital single market, little is known about the motivations and behavioural patterns of young Europeans while using the increasingly popular IM platforms, nor is it clear whether country characteristics are relevant or not when evaluating the impact of such technological platforms on the life of young audiences. Rooted in the uses and gratifications perspective, this study uses media diaries (N = 229), filled in by young people in an ordinary day of the week and self-administered questionnaires in order to assess what might be the main gratifications that lead young and educated people to share information on WhatsApp and what makes them spend more time and be dependent on the platform on a daily basis. Main results show that the most frequent reasons why young Romanians use WhatsApp are social, professional, and instrumental. Moreover, the tendency to share content on the platform is higher for people who use it for instrumental and informative purposes. Dependency on the platform is significantly higher for young people who use it to fulfil affective needs (i.e., to express or receive affection or emotional support and avoid loneliness).
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The new Digital Strategy of the European Union (EU) emphasizes the need for a more assertive Union as regards digital leadership, claiming a role of a global actor in terms of digital policies. Moreover, the new policy documents on digital transformation promote the idea European technological sovereignty, thus pointing to a crystallization of a European approach towards digital policies that would be projected on the international stage. The purpose of this article is to investigate the sources of the proclaimed assertiveness of Digital Europe in international affairs. The hypothesis is that it stems from harmonization of legislation claimed by the Digital Single Market. However, the article aims to identify and assess the EU’s recognition, authority, autonomy, markers proposed by Jupille and Caporaso (1998), in an approach meant to provide an overview of the EU’s actorness in the digital space.
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The parliamentary elections held in February 2020 – the eighth since Slovakia became independent – led to a victory for Igor Matovič’s anti-corruption party OĽaNO, and the defeat of the ruling coalition led by Smer–SD. Six parties also passed the 5% electoral threshold, including the ultranationalist and protest parties. This earthquake-like electoral change altered the stable but otherwise diverse party scene in Slovakia. The election also witnessed the fourth competition for the Hungarian votes in Slovakia between the Party of the Hungarian Community (MKP) and the interethnic Slovak–Hungarian Most–Híd party. The key question for the Hungarian community was whether or not the Hungarian ethnic party would make it into parliament after three election failures.
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The Council of the European Union adopted in June 2019 its new EU Strategy on Central Asia. Besides the Eastern Partnership, the Central-Asian region is one of the most relevant areas for the EU, so determining and shaping its development priorities were of paramount importance. In this study, based on the developments and feedbacks in recent months, I would like to demonstrate how the weak EU image due to this document will be strengthened and why it is not suitable for reaching the goals which are probably even not existing. My hypotheses are: 1) in fact, the EU does not have any clear and real strategy focusing on Central Asia, 2) the EU is losing out on the game of big and middle powers interested in the region, 3) the EU cannot exploit the economic potentials of the region.
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The aim of the research is to find the theoretical basis for the turn from finalité politique towards multifinalité in the paradigm of knowing the future European Union. These theoretical bases for reimbursement will be supported by empirical evidence and practical solutions, which in this case constitute a point of reference for potential final solutions. This objective is important in that not only researchers and theorists are involved in the search for the EU's future, but also practitioners, including EU technocrats. The research found that: first of all, it is extremely important to define the essence of the (non-adjective) finalité with its internal components (transcendence, equilibrium, destiny), secondly to determine the state at the moment which will be extremely important reference point (référentiel), although contextual, initial condition of research on the finalité.
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