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Around the Bloc: Around the Bloc - Rare Protest Flares in Gorno-Badakhshan
Bordering Afghanistan and China, the Tajik region jealously guards its relative independence from the central government.
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Bordering Afghanistan and China, the Tajik region jealously guards its relative independence from the central government.
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Hans Otto Roth (1890, April 29 – 1953, April 1) was an important public figure of the German community in Romania who distinguished himself as a leader of the Transylvanian Saxons by a prestigious intellectual formation and an exemplary civic conduct. As a politician he demonstrated qualities such as balance and wisdom, that were acknowledged both by the German group, who designated him as a parliament member and party chief, and by the Romanians, who appreciated his visionary attitude and fair position. This paper presents the senator and minister Hans Otto Roth in a dramatic historic moment – the summer and autumn of 1944 –, when he contributed (as much as possible) by his appeal to calm and loyalty to the identification of peaceful solutions that would ease the tension in the relations with the Romanian authorities facing great pressure from the Soviets. An important issue was the deportation of the German ethnic population to the Soviet Union, a hard trial in the lives of many fellow countrymen. Hans Otto Roth intervened in this matter, asking for understanding and moderation. As a leader belonging to the generation of the Great Union, the Transylvanian Saxon liberal-minded jurist and fine intellectual paid with his life for his commitment to the humanist and democratic values he served.
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Ethnic diversity represents one of the most accurate ways of exploring regional identity, with its temporal and spatial variations. In the methodological framework of emerging diversity studies, this paper approached the elementary forms of ethnic diversity change in regions of Slovakia in 1880 – 2011 using census data and simple, yet expressive and exact, diversification indices and intercensal change. The regions of Slovakia are shown in a broad time-space analysis, with data adapted to one regional structure. Although ethnic diversity is only a minor part of a superdiversity approach and, as such, is insufficient to express the identity of a region and its population, historical and spatial data can work to provide a useful overview for the broader social analysis of a region.Sociológia 2018, Vol. 50 (No. 6: 672-696)
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The present article highlightes some new aspects of the accreditation process revealed by the field visits, coupled with the requirements of the new education law. Major conclusion we reached is that quality assurance in Romanian higher education is that this is not a optional problem but a necessary and mandatory that you prepare future graduates are very quality, condition on the labor market integration of national, European and international community. Ultimately quality assurance in general, particularly in education is a requirement of the new type of social development, a condition of general progress of Romanian society.
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Allegations stem from complex clan politics in the North Caucasus region of Karachay-Cherkessia.
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This article assesses the impact of ‘Europeanization’ process in Hungary. This will be done by looking at the EU’s policy approaches to various political issues in Hungary and Hungarian responses to the EU policy stances during the accession period and the post-accession period in a comparative perspective. This paper argues that while Europeanization process had been to, a large extent, successful in influencing policy developments in the country during the accession period, it has been less effective in post accession period.
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A close look at a map of Africa and the two Americas, first published by Janheinz Jahn in Muntu, Umrisse der neoafrikanischen Kultur (Düsseldorf-Köln: Eugen Diedrichs Verlag, 1958) reveals the striking form of Africa and South America, the obvious connection between the concave form of Western Africa and the corresponding part of the American continent, both linked by arrows indicating the spreading of the African cultural elements by means of the slave trade. Some arrows lead to the Southern, Spanish- or Portuguese-speaking America, others lead to the English-speaking states of the North. Another arrow connects New Orleans to Chicago and New York, from where the so-called “Harlem style” found its own way to Europe Along such routes the African slaves crossed the ocean, bringing with them the New World their cultural heritage.
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During the “migration crisis” Serbia has been a transit country. However, several thousands of migrants and refugees remained “stuck” in the Western Balkans after the closure of the Balkan Route, and issues related to their potential integration provided a platform for Serbian far right movements and parties to establish new and stronger relationships with their European counterparts. This changed the far right landscape in the Western Balkans and allowed anti-European narratives to strengthen. This paper identifies the “new far right” which is on the rise in Serbia, and its relationships with the larger network of European far right movements. Based on field interviews and social media content analysis, the paper draws a conclusion that if the EU fails to take a more active role in making integration an attractive option for the Western Balkan countries, the rise of far right movements in the region could present a serious security threat.
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Balkan states are multi-ethnic societies. Balkans is an illustrating case in terms of how important and can often be vital for a functional political system, the representation of minorities within the political system and society. Since the 90's, with the collapse of the Communist regimes, the certain regions of Europe were involved in ethnic conflicts. Inter-ethnic conflicts threaten the stability of the relevant region and the unification of Europe. In such a situation, international institutions, involved in the conflict prevention and stopping it. They devoted special attention to the issue of minorities in respective neighboring countries. The position of minorities plays an important role for the stability and prosperity in general. This paper is focused in the study of the position of the minorities in the Balkans. The issue of minorities in the Balkans will be treated in different historical periods, taking into account the specifics of the period. The study will have as its starting point the appearance of the issue of the minorities’ protection in the Balkans. There will be an analysis of the question when the protection of minorities is raised for the first time to higher international instances. There will be discussions on the solutions to the problems of minorities in the bilateral field. There will be a study of the engagement level of actual protection of minorities after World War II. Also, an object of the paper will also be the approach of the international community, international organizations to the position of minorities in the Balkan states. So, the paper aims to give an overview on the minorities issue in the Balkans.
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Il y a des mécanismes par lesquels une communauté (ethnique) parvient à adapter (plutôt qu’abandonner) un ancien mode de fonctionnement et de cohésion, au profit de sa propre conservation, et cela malgré les changements, par ailleurs inévitables. La prise en compte de la cohésion communautaire, laquelle s’appuie, dans le cas des communautés aroumaines, presque toujours sur la lignée, amène à considérer celles-ci comme des réseaux sociaux fonctionnant essentiellement sur la base des groupes (des lignées) et non des individus. Cette organisation communautaire, à la fois complexe et flexible, assure une sécurité sociale et économique aux individus qu’elle inclut dans ses réseaux. Son analyse débouche sur la problématique de la rencontre ou d’un « métissage » entre deux phénomènes qui sont a priori conçus soit en opposition mutuelle, soit comme n’ayant aucun rapport: d’un côté, un type de fonctionnement « communautaire » et « traditionnel » et, de l’autre, le processus d’émancipation sociale des individus rendu possible et exigé à la fois par la société contemporaine.
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In this article, the authors analyze the most significant achievements of the current dynamics of the accession of the Western Balkans to the EU (Process of Stabilization and Association), with a special emphasis on numerous issues that stand in the “European way” of these countries. In this context, a specific analysis will be linked to numerous internal problems in the Western Balkans countries, as well as in their bilateral relations, and how does this affect the possible acceleration of the European integration process. Of course, the authors in this paper devoted considerable attention to the role of “non-EU” countries in the region of the Western Balkans, especially the Russian Federation, the Republic of Turkey and the People’s Republic of China. Also, the presentation will discuss how the countries of the Western Europe, which obviously will remain dominant in the European Union in the next period (Germany, France and Italy) will position themselves concerning a new enlargement of the EU to the Western Balkans. Also, the unfinished process of Brexit (2016) opens up some problems when it comes to the entering the countries of the Western Balkans into the European Union. Certainly, there are some “weak points” in the European integration process of the Western Balkans countries (corruption and organized crime in the case of Montenegro, relations with the government in Pristina when it comes to Serbia, etc.).
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Relying on Rogers Brubaker’s belief that the study of nationalism has survived the erosion of nuanced and sophisticated works offered by the greatest minds in the field, this paper summarizes and reinterprets main Western theories of nations and nationalism. During the last five decades, several main theoretical approaches have emerged. The author argues the animosity between these approaches is only ostensible. Hence, a compatible perspective could emerge as a general framework for thinking about nations and nationalism in the 21st century. Such a framework would consist of modernism, interactionism and ethno-symbolism, all recognized in the literature as distinct views on the topic in question. Still applicable and compatible parts of the mentioned theories are extracted by thorough examination of their author’s most potent claims in order to offer means for comprehending the complex phenomena in a fast and ever changing social environment of the 21st century.
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The main goal of this paper is to interpret the connection between social conflicts and the contemporary migrant crisis in Europe, through the analysis of social conflicts. Hypothesis is that tension and conflict manifestations, which are expressed as interethnic and interreligious, have their latent basis in political and social or class discourse. In other words, conflicts which are often recognized as ethnic, cultural or religious, can be based in social and economic inequalities, social anomie, political propaganda. We will be looking for the explanation of this type of conflicts through the theoretical analyses of scientific sources, public policies and data on ongoing migration crisis on local level.
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In the article, the author seeks to present history of inter-religious dialogue, Nostra aetete declaration, clause 3 (three), that talks about Islamic religion on The Second Vatican`s convocation. Then, the author proceeds with explaining perspectives and obstacles concerning today` dialogue in the countries of the former Yugoslavia, especially Bosnia and Herzegovina, which serves like positive example of the Christian-Islamic dialogue. In the conclusion, the author considers and suggests possibilities for sincere dialogue in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In scientific researches, the author encourages critical awareness concerning importance and necessity of inter-religious dialogue in solving religious challenges, especially when it comes to social fairness and establishment of permanent peace.
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This paper open a discussion on the functioning of cultural centers, as (potentially) influential institutions at local and international level. Аuthors wish is, by analyzing the program of the Cultural Centre Novi Pazar and the Cultural Centre of Serbia in Paris, to highlight the role of cultural centers as intermediaries of official policy. Authors specifically discuss the usage of traditional elements in programs, and therefore, in explicit examples "expose" the usage dichotomy – in-betweens satisfying cultural needs of society and instrumentalization of culture. Тhrough the activity of centers at local and international level, the intention of authors is to present culture as a national resource with which can be made the influence on society. Thus, attention is drawn to the process of defining the program – from the message/information encoding to its purposeful transfer through a range of activities (events, exhibitions, concerts, etc.).
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The centrality of the Balkan issue has, during the last thirty years and even before, often been equated with extreme political contexts – armed conflicts. The most common explication of this state of af fairs, aside from global international political trends/intereventions is, one-sidedly and shallowly, seen in the alleged inherent aggressive na tionalism, historically rooted and/or transferred by the radicalization of the distinction of tribal/national pasts and in the liminal position of the marginalized and minorized Balkans in between the West and the East. It seems as if the Balkans is in some state of “frozen”, never ended or perpetuated identity-profiled disintegration, violence and antagonisms. However, the liminality in understanding the Balkans need not point to marginality and irrelevance of the “Balkan political gloss/scholia”, which indeed, best and most poignantly articulate the overlapping dis courses that create and reflect it. The constructed, intelligible Balkans as something that is always Other than how it is perceived or self-perceived, as something elu sive and different from the absolutely external and absolutely internal Europe, qualifies as a liminal space that shifts the internal difference towards the intrinsic, internal logic of submissive “enculturation/ac culturation”: external Balkanization becomes internal Balkanism, externally induced/coded identity becomes internal identity prerequisites/ codes. Absurdly enough, the strategy of resistance against Balkaniza tion becomes the strategy of its affirmation. Even the nineteenth centu ry procreation/promotion/ initiation of the meta-narrative clichéing or stereotyping of the text of sidelined and ghettoized Balkans was less the matter of region defined/fixed by geographic/ political borders (un til the 1878 Berlin Congress, the Balkans semantically referred to the Ottoman Empire as European Turkey or Turkey in Europe), and more a matter of third, heterotopian, atopian or representational space of elas tic/variable/fluctuating forms and irreducible meanings. Is it possible to talk about erasing the Balkanizing borders of the Balkans in toto, in a situation when the “old” generic legacy/code scheme/representation of the Balkans as “wild barbarianism” is now replaced/recycled by new linguistic qualifiers/vocabulary/pathology of neo-racist ranking of the Balkans as a West European “poor and primitive” Other (as in the case of EU members Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania)? It is therefore evi dent that Balkanism will not disappear with the incorporation of the Balkans in the EU, but rather lose in its orthodoxy and gain in cultural hybridity. Respecting the fact that the West is only one of the possible cultural semantic networks/matrices of meaning and not the semantic meta network/meta-matrix of civilization per se, as much as the cultural remission of post-coloniality is, on the one hand, an outcome of glo balizing processes and open confrontation with the Euro-centric vector of (neo)colonial prescriptions and proscriptions, there is also a growing need on the other for a steady resistance/collision with the (neo)colonial engagement/text of invasive American power.
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Tensions and conflicts between the Finns and the Finnish Swedes of earlier times have yielded place to cooperation thanks 1) to the policy of Finnish governments who were ready to recognize and honour the fundamental rights of minority groups and their special characteristics; 2) to constitutional stipulations and a unique linguistic legislation. The Finnish government has satisfied many' demands and wishes of the Finnish Swedes, yet their initiatives towards the creation of Swedish autonomy with a national assembly of their own have been unacceptable to the Finns. The Swedes in Finland are entitled not only to their own ethnic cultural life but also to their own political representation in parliament as well as to their own trade unions. The prudent policy of Finnish governments aimed at maintaining their national identity has created a situation in which they feel to be a loyal and integral pan of Finland.
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