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The Corruption and Organized Crime Threat Monitoring Report is an overview of the state and dynamics of corruption and organized crime in the Republic of Macedonia. The basis of this report is the Corruption Monitoring System (CMS) developed by the Center for the Study of Democracy (CSD). The CMS relies on diverse sources of information and combines quantitative and qualitative methods for monitoring and the assessment of corruption and organized crime. The CMS has gained acknowledgement from the United Nations (UN) as a best practice system for monitoring corruption at the national level. The report is divided into seven chapters and it provides an overview of the legal and institutional framework for the fight against corruption and organized crime in the country, provides an overview of the macroeconomic situation and the emergence of the link between corruption and organized crime, risk assessment of threats and corruption of organized crime, as well as levels of connection between these two phenomena: infiltration (general) in the political arena, infiltration in the government (elected officials), infiltration in public administration and institutions, bribery, etc. Through these levels indirect critical review of corruption in politics is offered, but also to other areas and levels of government such as the judiciary; administration, police and customs. The last section deals with the private sector and corruption with a general review and review of public procurement, money laundering and VAT fraud.
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The process of Bulgaria's EU integration is a multifaceted political, institutional, economic, socio-structural, and psychological process. It is essentially a complex social transformation aimed at establishing particular public structures, standards, consensual attitudes, and strategies, compatible with EU and acceptable to its member countries. This process involves diverse actors who cannot be reduced solely to the efforts of state institutions and above all, of the legislature and the executive. One of the most powerful, though frequently overlooked, channels bringing Bulgaria closer to EU, are political parties. The inclusion of political parties in the domestic political process cannot be reduced exclusively or primarily to the time in which they exercise executive power. In opposition or even outside parliament, political parties can still occasionally exert considerable influence over the conditions in which foreign policy is conceived and implemented. Parties can sometimes be an exceptionally important source for Bulgaria's international image which strongly influences the positions of the country's international partners, and in particular, the EU member states, in terms of Bulgaria's accession to EU. Political parties, along with everything else, have several essential functions immediately related to Bulgaria's integration in EU: • they are very frequently the channels for the introduction of European po-litical standards in Bulgarian politics; • they represent the Bulgarian political palette of strategies and ideas; • they create an additional lobby network among the EU political class in favor of Bulgaria's accession; • they are in position to structure political life in Bulgaria in line with EU standards. That is why the study of the role of political parties in the process of Bulgaria's EU integration is an essential element of the conception of a general idea, and theoretical model, of the process. In theoretical terms, parties are part of the political system and a connecting link between the political, and civil, society. Their role in foreign policy is typically related to positions of power. But the in-ternationalization of party life in the past decade has provided parties with new opportunities for participation in the foreign political process. In Bulgarian political life parties are an important, if not the chief, instrument for assimilation of foreign political experience. Their activity as international actors, their international contacts, the international forums organized by them, are an irreplaceable channel through which public opinion in Bulgaria gets informed about foreign political standards, about the rules and norms of political life in EU countries, for instance. Naturally, the influence of parties on the foreign policy and international image of a given country is a function of its political system and above all, of the role, status, and functions of political parties within it. Since 1989 Bulgaria has developed a "European" type of party system, in which political organizations are institutional structures striving to represent politically significant social interests. Under this model, parties are involved in the domestic political process as representatives of a certain part of public opinion. In the U.S., along with that function, parties are involved in foreign policy mainly through the influence they have in various foundations which sponsor projects and research institutions. In a sense, the American party-system model is based more on the "expert" participation of political parties in the foreign policy making. In Bulgaria there are few elements of expert participation of parties in the foreign political process, though certain "think tanks", related in some form or other to political parties, do exert some influence, largely through developing and presenting before foreign partners alternatives to government policies.
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Procesy przekształceń ustrojowych w Polsce oraz integracji i rozszerzania Unii Europejskiej skłaniają do stawiania pytań, jak zmieniają się w tym czasie wartości Polaków, ich przekonania o tym, co jest cenne, dobre i ważne, a także o tym, w jaki sposób można i należy te wartości osiągać. Autorzy zebranych tu prac podjęli zadanie sprawdzenia hipotez przewidujących różne kierunki zmian wartości w Polsce i w innych krajach Europy. Odwołując się do danych z międzynarodowych badań porównawczych europejskich wartości (European Values Study), pokazują zarówno wspólne trendy zmian, jak i odstępstwa od nich, wahania i załamania. Odkrywają złożoność relacji między zmianami gospodarczymi, społecznymi i politycznymi zachodzącymi w Polsce i innych krajach europejskich a przekształceniami wartości i postaw ich mieszkańców. Ujawniają sprzeczności, niespójności i rozbieżności w tych procesach, stanowiące potencjalne źródła napięć i konfliktów.
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Za jedno z największych osiągnięć społecznych drugiej połowy XX wieku uznać można instytucjonalizację systemu ochrony praw człowieka i nadanie im wyróżnionej roli w stosunkach międzynarodowych.W Polsce stan badań nad prawami człowieka w krajach pozaeuropejskich prezentuje się dość skromnie ze względu na kłopoty z dostępem do materiałów źródłowych, egzotykę niektórych zjawisk i związane z nią ryzyko niewłaściwego rozpoznania istoty problemów. Książka ta jest unikatową, pionierską pracą w tej dziedzinie. Omówiono w niej całościowo funkcjonowanie praw człowieka w Afryce, odnosząc się do najważniejszych ich aspektów: od standardów wypracowanych w ramach ONZ i Unii Afrykańskiej, do dyskusji oryginalnych rozwiązań sądownictwa afrykańskiego. Sporo uwagi poświęca Autorka sytuacji kobiet na kontynencie.Grażyna Michałowska przedstawia w klarowny i uporządkowany sposób poszczególne zagadnienia w układzie problemowym, ujmując kontynent całościowo, ale nie ignorując jego wewnętrznego zróżnicowania. Analiza stanu przestrzegania praw człowieka w Afryce uwzględnia specyficzną perspektywę kulturową, bez której nie sposób pojąć procesów zachodzących w tej dziedzinie. Dzięki rozważaniom zawartym w tej książce łatwiej zrozumieć trudne i budzące protest obrońców praw człowieka afrykańskie praktyki dotyczące kary śmierci, stosowania kar cielesnych czy stosunku do kobiet. Wielkim jej atutem są bogate i aktualne materiały źródłowe.
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The industrial revolution of the 19th century gave impetus to changes on unprecedented scale, which resulted in profound social transformations, namely: the increase of citizens’ political consciousness and – of no lesser importance – countrywide uprisings, triggerd by the nationalist ideology. The end of the century was also full of events announcing the forthcoming armed conflict which – in its aftermath – spurred a total redefinition of the political order in Europe as it had been hitherto known. What clearly illustrates the size of the conflict are the multi-million-dollar human and material losses, the degradation and decline of the European agricultural production as well as equally significant decrease in the area of foreign investment, and finally, disturbances in trade relations, implied – first and foremost – by huge debts and by the scale of war reparations. No less important here is also the Bolshevisation of Russia with all the negative consequences of this process.The first half of the 20th century brought the largest economic crisis ever. It had a tremendous impact on the development of economic thought, casuing an indubitable change in its mainstream. Both politicians and economists are unequivocally convinced that the huge scale of economic fluctuations in the free market economy model almost completely precludes the efficient use of resources on a macroeconomic scale. Thus, the existing economic liberalism was replaced by the state interventionism and, consequently, the departure from the gold standard. By the same token, the Great Depression should be classified as one of the most important events of the 20th century. One can safely agree with the thesis that the Great Crisis made the outbreak of World War II possible, although it did not render the war inevitable. It also undoubtedly undermined the belief in the effective functioning of either the market or the capitalist system, which could partly explain why the ineffective and at the same time criminal communist regime was sanctioned. Referring to Paul Johnson’s words, it can be said that the crisis was exerting an emotional and intellectual impact on human consciousness almost until the end of the 1980s, when Soviet collectivism finally collapsed and the whole world had to admit that the free market could not be replaced by any other economical system.The hecatomb, i.e. the aforementioned World War II, had consequences hitherto unheard-of in the history of civilization, which touched upon political, social, economic, and cultural issues. They were, above all, the unimaginable demographic losses; what is more, the enormous costs and, subsequently, the impossible to estimate value of damages. No less important here is the new order, formed after the war ended, which divided Europe with an “iron curtain.” After the military actions have been seized, the so-called West, continued to develop in a diverse manner, but also acclaming the fact that political and economic processes maintain their continuity, steerability, and rationality. Despite perturbations, the process took its course within a determined framework and according to predictable institutional and legal structures. These questions looked completely different on the eastern side of the aforesaid “curtain.” The two hostile political camps also differed regarding their economic systems; fortunately, it was for the so-called Eastern Bloc that the consequences of the difference turned out to be disastrous. What also falls into the category of issues discussed in the present work is an energy crisis in the seventies of the 20th century, connected with the political conflict between the West and the Arab states. It resulted in a recession and a slowdown in economic growth with all the negative consequences. On the other hand, by the end of the 1980s, it was connected with the breakup of the communist system in Europe. Although it is difficult to underestimate the positive aspect of this phenomenon, the collapse of communism caused many local conflicts in the countries that constituted the former USSR. The simultaneous collapse of the regime in the former Yugoslavia strengthened separatist tendencies, resulting in long, bloody struggles on its territory. The outbreak of extreme nationalism became the driving force behind a civil war, leading to a wave of national and religious persecution as well as an ethnic purge, heitherto inconceivable after World War II.The 21st century is inherently associated with in the phenomenon of globalization,which has its positive and negative dimensions, whose assessment – for the time being – eludes the criteria of historical analysis, though it finds its multifaceted expression in inquiries of other sciences.It should be emphasized that the succinctness of the above approach is intended solely to summarize the scale and variety of the events and processes discussed, which is directly related to the common denominator indicated in the introduction. The analysis of texts published in this volume should lead the Reader to the fullest possible comprehension of the eponymous issue. The research conducted in this field shows clearly the huge diversity and variety of phenomena, commonly referred to as the crisis. Unfortunately, despite its enormous efforts to investigate the causes, courses, and consequences of political, financial, and economic crises, science has not yet succeded in finding a remedy for their emergence; nevertheless, as yet unweavering in these efforts, perhaps it will contribute to alleviating the enormous costs of overcoming them. Editors
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Po raz pierwszy w historii niepodległej Ukrainy na siedem miesięcy przed wyborami prezydenckimi trudno jest określić nie tylko głównego kandydata do zwycięstwa, ale także skład drugiej tury. Zwycięstwo któregokolwiek z polityków w pierwszej turze (31 marca 2019 roku) obecnie wydaje się wykluczone. Dostępne badania opinii publicznej jednoznacznie wskazują, że największym poparciem cieszy się Julia Tymoszenko. Jednocześnie ponad 20% wyborców nie wie lub nie chce ujawnić, na kogo odda głos, ponad 10% wybrałoby kogoś, kto nie jest ujmowany w sondażach, a prawie połowa szukałaby alternatywy wśród nowych kandydatów. Główni pretendenci, poza kandydatami prorosyjskimi, w zasadzie nie różnią się w głoszonych poglądach na kierunki strategicznego rozwoju państwa. Każdy z nich deklaruje poparcie dla integracji Ukrainy z UE i NATO, kontynuowania reform i modernizacji polityczno-gospodarczej na wzór zachodni.
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The Christian Social Union (CSU) has ruled Bavaria continuously for sixty years. The CSU’s domination of the state’s political scene, together with its influence on federal policies through its partnership with the CDU in the Bundestag, has made the party one of the most effective groups in Europe. This was confirmed in the election to Bavaria’s Landtag in October 2018, which the CSU has won once again. At the same time, the party is being confronted by other conservative groupings, mainly Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), which has a similar profile to the CSU in several aspects. This, combined with the outflow of similarly sized groups of voters to the AfD and to the Greens, as well as to Freie Wähler, means the CSU is facing a new challenge that involves creating a comprehensive political agenda without losing the party’s conservative identity. The purpose of this report in to present the place the CSU occupies on the political map of Germany and the importance of this grouping for Bavaria. It discusses the changes happening both within the CSU and in Bavaria itself and the possible scenarios for the development of the party and of the state. To study these processes, the author has mainly used the methodology of observing political developments and analysing documents published by the German government, as well as Bavaria’s laws and documents compiled by the CSU. This has been complemented by interviews with German experts.
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W Bawarii nieprzerwanie od sześćdziesięciu lat rządzi Unia Chrześcijańsko- Społeczna (CSU). Dominacja CSU na landowej scenie politycznej oraz jej wpływ na politykę federalną poprzez wspólną frakcję z Unią Chrześcijańsko- -Demokratyczną (CDU) w Bundestagu uczyniły z tej partii jedno z najbardziej skutecznych ugrupowań w Europie. Potwierdziły to wybory do parlamentu związkowego Bawarii w październiku 2018 roku, które CSU po raz kolejny wygrała. Jednocześnie partia jest konfrontowana z innymi ugrupowaniami konserwatywnymi, przede wszystkim Alternatywą dla Niemiec (AfD), która ma w kilku aspektach zbliżony profil do CSU. Zarazem odpływ podobnie licznych grup wyborców do AfD i do partii Zielonych, a także do Wolnych Wyborców stawia CSU przed nowym dylematem stworzenia szerokiej oferty programowej bez utraty konserwatywnej tożsamości. Celem opracowania jest przedstawienie miejsca CSU na mapie politycznej RFN oraz znaczenia tego ugrupowania dla Bawarii. Zarysowano zmiany zachodzące zarówno w CSU, jak i kraju związkowym, wskazano także możliwe scenariusze rozwoju partii oraz landu. Do zbadania tych procesów wykorzystano przede wszystkim metodę obserwacji wydarzeń politycznych oraz analizę niemieckich dokumentów rządowych, aktów prawnych landu Bawarii oraz dokumentów CSU. Przeprowadzono także rozmowy z niemieckimi ekspertami.
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The presidential elections in March 2019 clearly demonstrated the battle lines and the scale of divisions within the Slovak society. The main axis of these divisions is the public’s attitude towards the strongest party in the ruling coalition – Smer – sociálna demokracia [Direction – Social Democracy], led by the former Prime Minister Robert Fico, which with one brief interruption (2010-12) has held power in Slovakia since 2006. However, an increasingly important role is being played by the split between supporters of Slovakia’s further integration into Western structures and opponents of the pro-Western elites who seek to radically redefine the state’s foreign policy under the banner of defending its sovereignty. Taking this into account, Slovak society can be divided into three main groups: those who demand that the discredited elites leave office and that the functioning of the state be improved, though without any major change in foreign policy; those who primarily want stability and are afraid of major changes; and those who want to replace the elites and are demanding radical change to the country’s political system and foreign policy.
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Słowackie wybory prezydenckie z marca 2019 roku pokazały wyraźnie linie i skalę podziałów w tamtejszym społeczeństwie. Główną ich osią jest stosunek do najsilniejszej partii koalicji rządzącej Smer-Socjaldemokracja byłego premiera Roberta Ficy, sprawującej władzę na Słowacji od 2006 roku z jedną krótką przerwą (2010–2012). Coraz większą rolę zaczyna jednak odgrywać także podział na zwolenników dalszej integracji Słowacji w strukturach Zachodu oraz przeciwników prozachodnich elit, którzy dążą do tego, aby pod hasłem obrony suwerenności radykalnie przedefiniować politykę zagraniczną państwa. Biorąc to pod uwagę, słowackie społeczeństwo można podzielić na trzy główne grupy: tych, którzy domagają się odejścia skompromitowanych elit i usprawnienia działania państwa, bez reorientacji polityki zagranicznej; tych, którzy chcą przede wszystkim stabilności i obawiają się poważniejszych zmian; a także tych, którzy chcą wymiany elit oraz radykalnej zmiany systemu politycznego i polityki zagranicznej.
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The Orange Revolution expressed the people’s hopes for, and the leaders’ pledge to carry out, reforms that would remedy the political, social and eco nomic situation in Ukraine after a decade of rule by Leonid Kuchma. The fifth anniversary of those mass protests against ballot rigging, and the final period of the presidency of Viktor Yushchenko, who then em bodied the hopes for a new start, is an appropriate time to construct a tentative assessment of the Orange Revolution’s achievements. How did the events of autumn 2004 change Ukraine? Have democratic mechanisms strengthened in Ukraine, and to what extent? Has the post- Soviet oligarchic state model been overcome? Has media freedom expanded? Has there been any progress with regard to economic transformation and has deeper integration with the European structures materialised? Five years on, what remains of the hopes of millions of Ukrainians and of the goodwill of the international community?
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How do citizens form their political attitudes? How do political actors influence people’s political views in their everyday lives? Do people’s feelings towards political parties and politicians influence the public opinion? The book presents a series of laboratory experiments focused on the formation processes of citizens’ attitudes to political issues in the context of their emotional attachments to political actors. The research puts emphasis on negativity and negative feelings of citizens towards political actors and shows that this type of negative attachment influences the way people think about political issues. Since the experimental method is a newcomer in the field of Czech political science, the volume’s ambition is also to introduce experiments as a relevant and useful tool for extending knowledge of substantial political processes and phenomena.
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The EU has usually considered immigration policy for third country nationals and the free movement framework for EU citizens to be two separate policy fields. Increasingly, they are being conflated. This places a country such as Poland in an ambivalent position. When it comes to the treatment of third country nationals, Central and Eastern European member governments—including that in Warsaw—are reluctant to agree on fixed quotas to relocate forced migrants from the south, fearing that this could strain their limited resources and entail heavy political costs. When it comes to free movement, by contrast, Poland and other sending countries of the region are having to defend the status of their own citizens residing in Western Europe and call on support and solidarity there. This report examines how this may affect the specific situation of the Polish migrant community in Norway. Poland can draw lessons from Norway, which has only recently made the transition to becoming a country of immigration.
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In 2016, the major study The Kremlin Playbook: Understanding Russian Influence in Central and Eastern Europe concluded that the Kremlin has developed a pattern of malign economic influence in Europe through the cultivation of “an opaque network of patronage across the region that it uses to influence and direct decision-making.” This network of political and economic connections—an “unvirtuous” cycle of influence— thrives on corruption and the exploitation of governance gaps in key markets and institutions. Ultimately, the aim is to weaken and destroy democratic systems from within. Despite the varied nature of the countries presented in the first volume, the names of specific jurisdictions, companies, and members of Vladimir Putin’s inner circle kept appearing in nearly every network of influence. Was this a coincidence? Or could there be enabling forces that unwittingly or purposely amplify Russian malign economic influence? Exploring the answers to these questions formed the basis of our second report, The Kremlin Playbook 2: The Enablers. Enablers of Russian malign influence allow the Kremlin to achieve its end and avoid some of the consequences of its behavior. By aiding and abetting Russia’s malign influence, enablers assist the Kremlin in self-destructive behavior that siphons funds offshore (often in or through Europe) and depletes the Russian tax base at a time of dire economic conditions. Crucially, by allowing Russian economic influence to cycle through their systems, enablers actively participate in the weakening and discrediting of their own democratic structures. Understanding Russian malign economic influence requires understanding the risks inherent in large Russian investment flows. Because enablers can facilitate or aid illicit financial flows, they jeopardize the integrity of open market economies and, ultimately, create a threat to national security. State-owned enterprises and large companies play an important role in the furtherance of Russian malign economic influence because of their dominant position and ability to distort market competition. The significant amounts of financial flows they oversee make them susceptible to illicit practices or abuse. Enablers can facilitate the integration of illicit funds within legitimate global financial flows, assisted by shell companies and corporate facilitators like banks, attorneys, or accountants. Russian private holdings abroad total an estimated $1 trillion. These significant capital flows create a potential dependence on illicit funds in which the enabler and the Kremlin both benefit from and are dependent on a system that helps these flows transit in and out of Russia and Europe. Illicit finance, particularly money laundering, can damage national security by corrupting government officials who can alter policies, impeding the free flow of capital, reducing the efficacy of sanctions regimes, and distorting entire markets and industries. This link between illicit finance and national security can materialize in two separate channels—public corruption and organized crime—that follow the same track and at times overlap. In the case of Russia, these two flows converge at the behest of the Kremlin. Malign actors hiding funds and profits can do so through money laundering and tax avoidance or evasion. Enabling countries’ developed financial systems move these billions in investment and profits in and out of European countries every year. These financial systems offer specific tools that are designed to obscure the origins of certain investments and conceal illicit financing. Tactics that remove profits from the reach of tax authorities (and thus state revenue) may not be illegal, but some are meant to operate just below the threshold of illegality, where enablers excel—within a financial gray zone. They might be following the letter of the law, but certainly not its spirit, and industries like corporate service providers (CSPs) assist in this task by feeding the enabling ecosystem through complex, cross-border transactions and company constructions. This complex ecosystem has grown exponentially in the past three decades with rapid globalization and Russia’s deep integration within our financial system. It has become almost impossible to disentangle the reported $1 trillion of Russian capital outflows from other financial flows, including for the most capable oversight bodies in the world.
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Projekat „Mladi u Crnoj Gori – društveni dekor ili društveni kapital?“ ima za cilj da doprinese osnaživanju mladih u Crnoj Gori i njihovom aktivnom učešću u promovisanje demokratskih vrijednosti na kojima se zasniva i Evropska unija. Preciznije, cilj ovog projekta je podizanje svijesti javnosti i zainteresovanih strana o pitanjima, problemima i perspektivi mladih u Crnoj Gori, kao i jačanje kapaciteta mladih za aktivno učešće u društvenim i političkim procesima. Značaj ovog projekta se ogleda i u činjenici da omogućava sveobuhvatan uvid u jednu od najmarginalizovanijih društvenih grupa u crnogorskom društvu o kojoj se često govori u javnom diskusrsu, ali čije potrebe, stavovi, razmišljanja i mogućnosti nisu adekvatno identifikovani, analizirani. Posljedično, sami mladi nisu dovoljno osnaženi da se suoče sa svim izazovima u pozicioniranju u društvu i obezbjeđenju svog uticaja na tekuće procese. Period odrastanja za mlade sam po sebi je prilično težak, čak i u stabilnim zemljama, dok u tranzicijskim društvima, kao što je crnogorsko, koja su obilježena drastičnim promjenama društvene stvarnosti to nosi dodatnu složenost. Društvena previranja sa kojima su mlade generacije odrastale ostavile su svoj pečat.
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A publication before you is created with the aim of bringing inter-religious dialogue and the religions’ peace potential closer to youth who are involved in politics in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Looking at the political participation as an activity in which young people usually have a secondary role, through acting in youth forums in their political parties, in election campaigns or through civil society organizations, it appears that young people are involved in political life, however, their ideas and attitudes are not used in the best way, i.e. in decision-making bodies. the Although political participation of youth is a burning issue in our society, this publication will not directly deal with but it, but it will focus on another important topic that is often misused for political purposes - religion, or more precisely inter-religious dialogue and religions' peace potential through the perspective of young people. Religion is often covered as a topic in political life, but in a negative context, using stereotypes and prejudices in order to create an atmosphere of intolerance and gain profit for political purposes. Therefore, with this publication we will try to compensate for the lack of resources on inter-religious dialogue and the peace potential of religions and their importance for the advancement of political dialogue. The publication is intended primarily for young politicians and activists from civil society organizations who deal with issues of political responsibility and political participation. It will serve as a manual for including the peace potential of religions and inter-religious dialogue in the political engagement of youth.
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The aim of this research is to discuss the key elements of the gender equality plan (GEP) development process in the universities and other research institutions, based on the experiences of the Gender Equality Plan preparation process at Yaşar University within the scope of the Horizon 2020 project titled “Linking Research and Innovation for Gender Equality (CALIPER)” from the perspective of the effects of the European Union financial supports on the institutional change process. The scope of the research includes the analysis process of the data obtained from the semi-structured interviews, focus groups and surveys conducted within the scope of internal and external current situation analysis, using qualitative and quantitative research methods. Through the research, main gaps in institutional processes, practices and procedures related to gender equality were identified under six key areas: human resources, institutional governance, research, teaching, institutional communication and gender-based harassment. The result of the research highlights the importance of evaluating the institutional factors and procedures with a multidimensional perspective in the planning and implementation of the institutional change process with respect to gender equality.
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Poles and Czechs have been neighbours for centuries. We both speak Western Slavic languages and shave similar Slavic origins. Moreover, history often condemned us to a common fate, such as the submission of Bohemia, Moravia, and also a part of Silesia, to the Habsburg Monarchy. e both nation states have much in common as well as differ in many respects. ey underwent modernization, nationalization, experienced the period of socialism, and finally found themselves in a whirlwind of globalization and a new social reality. Common membership in the Communist Bloc, and then the systemic transformation, maintained the analogous fates of the both nations, which are imprinted on the consciousness of their societies. At the same time, historical differences also occurred, such as between the accomplishments of Jan Hus and the Counter-Reformation in Poland. e result is different approaches of Poles and Czechs to religion. e period of systemic transformation, opening to the outside world and the processes of globalization have caused an influx of new trends, styles and the Western values. It concerns the inhabitants of the both countries, especially the younger generation. e period in qestion allowed them to explore their identity, particularly in terms of ethnicity and religion. Such processes occurred in both the Polish and the Czech communities.
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