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Since the start of the "Arab Spring" ongoing socio-political destabilization of the MENA region, has led to the outbreak of numerous of an intra armed conflicts. An important role in these territorial conflicts play a non-professional armed forces - the militant organizations based on local material and human resources, operating on a specific area. To described type of military organizations include territorial defenseformations, tribal police, national guards and anti-government groups conducting military operations. The conflict, which illustrating in a comprehensive manner the role of these formations and the whole situation in the MENA region is a civil war in Syria. In that conflict in which a significant share of military actions has described formations, which can be found in the composition of each of the six warring parties (government forces, the forces of the Kurdish formations associated around the Free Army of Syria, Sunni groups, al-Nusra Front, the Islamic State). Increased involvement of operational forces of foreign countries and also increase the inflow of foreign volunteers, mainly serving in the armed Islamic State, led to the creation of national alliances in the descriptions formations. The deepening of this process is the expected step in the development of these armed organizations.
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Bulgaria and Slovakia, as well as their diplomatic, military and political, economic and cultural relations are an integral part of the history of the Southeast Europe during the Second World War. The two countries and their relations are experiencing strong influence of a complex set of factors in the arbitration and the dominant role of German policy. German plans for world domination and a new order in Europe affect almost all aspects in the old continent life – state, international relations, economics, coexistence of different ethnical communities that are historically formed. In Central and Southeast Europe German policy led to the formation of a mosaic of allied, semi-independent and satellite regimes of Germany, on whose development and relations, it continues to affect the entire period of the war. The study of the relations between Bulgaria and Slovakia – bilateral and after the accession of both countries to the Tripartite Pact – allied, gives new perspectives on major events and developments in the war, but especially to the national-territorial problems in Central and Southeast Europe and attempts for their solving during the war years.
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The text analyses the settlement of Bulgarians in Thessaloniki and raises the question about their number. It compares data from different surveys, in order to emphasize the problems with the census. The study aims to explain why the Bulgarians remained an “invisible” community for a long time. The reason for the contradictory information from different surveys is the difference in the criterions of the officials. Nevertheless, it is certain that the Bulgarian presence in Thessaloniki in the first half of the 19th century was significant. It continued to strengthen during the period before the Balkan Wars, because of the constant flow of Bulgarian population from the small and medium-sized towns towards Thessaloniki.
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Taboo issue of the public sphere, understood as the “inarticulate” prohibition of the reflection of fundamental foundations of social discourse itself, is one of the principal elements that prevent conclusive analysis of the mechanisms of power in the symbolic space. Therefore, the main aim of the present paper is to reveal – by using the paradigm of methodological cosmopolitanism (Ulrich Beck) – the problematic areas of – what Pierre Bourdieu has called – symbolic violence, and what the proposed approach here is synonymous with the subtle and often di cult to articulate mechanism of power in a broad sense.
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An interpretation of „Better Shelter” by Ikea provides a point of departure for cultural analysis of the term „home”. By asking what design can do and how it affects different understandings of home territories, I prove that common meaning of „home” is a justification for the antagonistic division into us and them. As an alternative, I suggest that home territories should be seen as performative spaces (David Morley). I analyze „The Microbial Home” with reference to Judith Butler’s theory of bodies-as-living-set-of-relations in order to show that homes are analogous sets-of-relations. In this context, design would be a way of thinking that creates inclusive spaces and addresses social issues (i.e. global migrations, environmental degradation).
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“The Society of the Future” as a futuristic project is a powerful source of modern management. The necessity of the new management for the society of the future is a paramount task for any country. In this article, we focus our attention on Ukraine. After the Revolution of Dignity, our country shows good dynamics of changes in the public sphere. However, these changes are hampered by old and ineffective management practices at the middle-level and lower-level of managers. Why is this happening? What strategies should be employed to remedy the situation? What are the new trends in training of civil servants in Ukraine? Research demonstrates that for various reasons a significant part of civil servants does not engage in the systematic development of their professional resource that is based on creativity. At the same time, a high level of tension existing in professional activity, specific difficulties in the public service system cause problems in the personal and professional development of civil servants, thus complicating the process of revealing this potential and, accordingly, obtaining the highest level of competence through the implementation of professional activities. This requires the establishment of an independent system evaluation of the managerial staff, based on personal merit and competence, in particular the development of competency profiles for senior managers in the Public Service system, as well as tools for evaluating candidates for management positions; the establishment of a network of independent evaluation centers for candidates for management positions.
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The analysis of some written sources and the estimation of Stalin’s political behaviour bring to the conclusion that in the Balkan politics of the Soviet leader did not exist real wish and targeted actions towards creating a communist federative union in the Balkan peninsula, despite the fact that many historians support the opposite opinion – that the Soviet leader aimed at establishing such federation. Stalin used the federative idea to understand in details and to use the contradictions between the Balkan countries with communist rule on the question of federation. With this manipulative policy Stalin wanted to strengthen the role of Moscow in the relationships between the Balkan communist states as part of the main strategy – the creation of a block of countries in Eastern Europe under the power of Kremlin. The article shows how the federative idea came down from the Balkan political stage. This process occurred after the famous Soviet-Yugoslav-Bulgarian meeting on February 10, 1948 in the Kremlin and it was connected with the outbreak of the Soviet-Yugoslav conflict in 1948. The article also reveals how the communist leaders in the Balkans did not understand the manipulative policy of Stalin on the question of federation.
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The paper put under analysis the dynamics of the slow but gradual rapprochement in the relations between Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the USSR and the Soviet Bloc from the second half of 60s and the beginning of the 70s of the XXth century. That change is fully related with the shift of the whole geopolitical paradigm of the Cold War in East Asia that became clearly visible since the end of 60s and the beginning of the 70s which is mostly related with the rapprochement between USA and PRC as a consequence from the Sino-Soviet split. This important geopolitical shift has its important impact on the international relations in the region as well as on the situation on the Korean peninsula. One of the main consequences was the new change of the North Korean position from a Chinese ally within the Sino-Soviet split at the beginning of the 60s to a neutral and rather pro-Soviet position at the end of 60s and the beginning of 70s. It was of a great importance for the Soviet Union to somehow counterbalance the new Chinese policy of the US. From this point of view any possibility to bring back the DPRK along to its side was considered from the USSR as an opportunity to return its influence and positions of power in East Asia. The new geopolitical shift which created also new possibilities for solving the Issue about the Korean unification gave the Soviet Union and its ally countries a new political tool used for the returning DPRK back to the positions of the Soviet bloc against China and USA. This tool was the support (both economic and political) that DPRK desperately needed and the Soviet bloc countries provided to North Korea defending its positions within the International community and mainly in the UN. Through the analyses of various Bulgarian archival materials becomes clear that in that process of rapprochement between DPRK and the Soviet Bloc from in the beginning of the 70s, very important role has been played by Bulgaria itself which turned out to be a kind of mediator between USSR and North Korea. To some extent Bulgarian government played the role of mediator or transmission in the dialog between Moscow and Pyongyang. At the same time it is clearly visible that both countries, Bulgaria and DPRK, took the advantage of the new change in the general geopolitical situation in the East-West relations at the end of the 60s and the beginning of 70s that offered them a new possibilities and opportunities for more intensive and mutually beneficial political and mostly economic relations.
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This article explores the emergence and spread of American cultural and information centers and libraries around the world. The analysis shows that they were one of the first initiatives of the emerging American public diplomacy at the turn of the 20th century, which became an effective tool for reaching out to the outside audience, with a view to enhance the understanding and acceptance of the policies of the United States during the Cold War. In the mid–1990s the US Congress reduced their funding in an attempt to reduce the federal spending abroad. The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and the worsening of USA’s appearance abroad, however, served as an indication that their closure was a mistake. In an attempt to remedy that mistake, the federal government has created a dense network of governmental and the so-called American partner spaces of different size and type, but united by the mission of attracting foreign audiences through the development of numerous information, educational and training programs.
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Latin America, the development of the ongoing integration process has taken a quantitative, rather than a qualitative direction. Instead of a deepening integration organization, ten integration projects exist in a parallel way: the Andean Community of Nations, Mercosur, ALBA, UNASUR and some further organizations. On one side, it has been the controversies between United States and Hugo Chávez’s Venezuela that has multiplied the integration organizations, however, the main reasons of the wrecking of the integration process(es) have rather been of structural character. Among these, the low level of economic complementarity, the peculiarities of Latin American presidential regimes, the historical interstate political tensions, the lack of physical infrastructure and the lack of social integration are to be mentioned. The present essay has three objectives. First, it gives an historical overview of the formation of Latin American integration organizations. Second, it analyses the aforementioned structural obstacles. Third, it gives an outlook on the circumstances that may shape the future of Latin American integration.
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The article summarizes the factors that influence the emergence and development of American Studies in the United States and Western Europe. The author identifies key trends and themes that shape the character of the scientific discipline on both sides of the Atlantic in the second half of the 20th century, and outlines current trends and directions of its development at the beginning of the 21st century.
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Despite the popular feature of Bulgaria as the most faithful satellite of the Soviet Union during the Cold War, Sofia used cleverly different mechanisms to attract Moscow’s support to ensure national security. One of them was the emphasis on the image of the most loyal Soviet ally, and in the practice of Bulgarian diplomacy one could see the subtle impact by referring to common goals with the global strategic plans of the USSR. The article highlights some of the outstanding issues on the Balkans and follows the arguments that the Bulgarian political leadership handled, as well as the acceptable compromises it was willing to make to ensure Soviet support in favor of national interests in the years of the preparation and conduct of the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe.
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The efficient and professional exercise of the first Romanian EU Council Presidency is possible upon a thorough preparation that adds pressure on the national system for coordination of European affairs to adapt its administrative and coordination capacity not only with regard to logistical aspects of the Presidency’s activities, but also to the elaboration of the political programme implemented during the six month mandate. Hence, concerted action involving both the central public administration and non-governmental actors is necessary to maximize all the expertise available on EU issues in order to build a strong European outlook for the Presidency role. The paper assesses the Council Presidency’s potential to affect the development of the coordination system in the long run related to its nature in terms of the degree of inclusiveness of non-governmental actors in the process of defining the national position on European affairs. In this sense, an analysis of the framework for cooperation between the government and the civil society representatives in general and in the context of the preparations for the Presidency was conducted through the theoretical lens of the critical junctures concept in order to establish whether the transformations triggered by this event might have reorganized the pre-existent institutional arrangements of the system. The analysis has revealed that although the involvement of civil society actors in European affairs has increased in the last 2 years, a close cooperation with the Government is unlikely to continue in the future past the Presidency, meaning that the latter fails to be a critical juncture in the development of the coordination system.
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This paper tries to further elaborate one of the most important external powers of the European Union: Its “reforming power” which goes in parallel with its ability as “normative actor” in the Western Balkans. Through Albania as a case study, it tries to argue that the process of Albania’s integration to EU has transformed the country in several directions: by introducing a deep juridical reform and by the full alignment of its foreign policy with CFSP and the “regional cooperation”. In fact, under the auspices of the EU integration, the country is making all the efforts to deliver on one of the most transformative reforms undertaken in the region, that of the justice system. This gives to EU the features of a “reforming power”. The term shows EU as a driving force which makes countries undertake deep reforms they would not have differently realized, if not under the conditionality for the EU integration.
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This article proposes an articulation between the conceptions of information literacy and a cultural and social approach of critical thinking, implemented through an original methodological approach of analysis and cartography of controversies. We begin by discussing some dimensions of the digital environment that affect the definition and consideration of the fields of Information Literacy (IL) and Critical Thinking (CI) and their articulation. We go on to present a state of the literature on critical thinking that reflects divergent visions. We extend this reflection by proposing a synthesis of the convergences between the concepts of information literacy and critical thinking and a form of articulation between the two fields. Subsequently, we present a reflexive analysis of our teachings on controversies at university since 2014, and which constitute an adequate support for teaching our cultural, social and creative approach of critical thinking.
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From November 2013 to the present day the Ukrainian crisis generated the most severe conflict in Europe since the 1990s, while current skirmishes in the eastern part of the country and recent new developments have the potential to further tighten the crisis. Notwithstanding the internal elements of the ongoing crisis, this paper will be focused on the analysis of its external - geopolitical – dimension. By acquiring conceptual framework from Zbigniew Brzezinski’s writings on geopolitics, this article will analyze the Ukrainian crisis in terms of strategic, economic and ideological interests of the Russian Federation.
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This article describes the rivalry between Iran and Saudi Arabia for achieving regional hegemony in the Middle East. Both states have an ambition to be the leader of the Islamic world and there is a constant struggle between them to dominate Middle East and spread their influence in neighboring countries. Both countries fund militant Islamic movements abroad and are engaged in fierce battle for regional dominance. After the establishment of theocratic regime in Iran, the kingdom of Saudi Arabia vehemently opposed Teheran’s ambitions to export revolutions and increase its influence in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia is determined to counter the Iranian revolutionary threat and constantly opposes Teheran’s ambitions to dominate the Arab World. Saudi Arabia and Iran often accuse each other of fueling sectarian violence by backing Shia and Sunni militias in Iraq, Yemen, Syria and Lebanon. Both countries try to avoid direct confrontation with each other. Instead of direct conflict, both sides fight each other indirectly and provide varying degrees of support to different camps in nearby conflicts.
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Mass media have been a critical weapon of warfare since the cold war, and even more recently, the powerful intrusion of the new media: transformed the landscape in terms of reach and influence. Its role can be both constructive and deconstructive. The Rwanda genocide, armed violence in Nigeria and Kenya, and Balkan wars has questioned its roles, powers and ethical responsibilities in violent conflict circumstances. In these cases the mass media played a poisonous role. Although establishing a causal relationship between mass media and framing of opinion, emotion and beliefs that steams violent conflicts in Sub-Saharan Africa is neither linear nor clear. However, this paper underscores mass media’s compelling influence on how perception in fragile armed conflict environment of Africa is developed. It is not only used as an effective propaganda machine for promoting regime defense, building resistant movement, but also transforming the political actor’s parochial interest into people’s interest.
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This paper evaluates the United Nations’ (UN) involvement and efforts in Western Sahara, and assesses its perceived effectiveness in settling this conflict in the post-Cold War international order. The dispute in Western Sahara is the most protracted conflict in the history of the UN. Its settlement would provide a crucial platform for the progress of other unresolved conflicts under UN auspices. As a mediator and an intervening party, the UN has played a major role in the dispute, especially since the establishment of the UN Mission for Western Sahara, MINURSO. After outlining the history of the Western Sahara conflict, this paper elucidates the stages the UN has managed therein, and clarifies the reasons and motives behind the deadlock in the Sahara. The UN’s efforts are evaluated, and the negotiating perspectives of the concerned parties in the conflict and role of Algeria, which considers itself not formally part of the conflict despite its role in preserving the current impasse, analyzed.
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