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The aim of the article is to present and analyse the major ideological and political factors shaping the Russian Federation’s attitude towards the European Union. The analysis focuses on the main ideological concepts, shaped historically and functioning today in Russia, which influence political programmes and undertakings implemented by the Russian authorities in their relations with the EU. This analysis is based on the assumption that there is a deep-rooted conviction among the Russian élites and society that their system of values and culture are diametrically opposed to that of the West, and especially of Europe, and that this results in a general hostility towards the EU. As a result, this creates enormous difficulties in maintaining normal, stable relations between the two parties.
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The article outlines the geopolitical rationale behind contemporary Russian expansionism, as well as presents the asymmetric and “hybrid” mechanisms utilized by the Kremlin to solidify its authority in the post-communist space. To do this, the article refers to the findings of American, British, Polish and Ukrainian intellectuals on the nature of the Russian political identity. The four commonly used theoretical frameworks explaining contemporary Russian expansionism are described and critically assessed (imperial, diversionary, divergent identities and “angry guy”). Apart from this, the Russian and foreign political philosophic thought of the XIX-XXI centuries is referred to. The latter was done to trace the evolution of the Russian Byzantium-type governing tradition and national identity. The article puts forward the hypothesis that Russian expansionism, alongside the Russian sentiment towards an imperialist worldview, are tested by historical patterns of national policy-making which bring the state to its civilizational glory. In this light, it will be futile to expect that Russia can fully democratize, build a Western type of a nation-state and start conducting open policies.
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The current state of coexistence in international arena is contested. Russian Federation (RF) cannot come to terms with the fact that following the dissolution of the USSR, it sustained substantial losses, especially with regards to its role globally. The team of Putin is striving to rebuild the power of their country. The Russian society, used to sacrifices for the homelands, offers its invaluable support. A lot of effort is put in the development of the armaments sector. As a result, the structure, command and mobilization the Armed Forces have substantially improved. The RF Armed Forces prepare for a possible armed conflict. Various types of exercise are conducted; frequently maneuvers take place in proximity to the borders of NATO member-states. This paper examines these developments and suggest possible ways of bypassing the emerging challenges.
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The article examines Russian Federation’s relations with both South and North Korean in the years 1991-2018 and tries to make an assessment of the potential role Russia could play in a future reunification process of the peninsula. The author examines three possible scenarios of such a process: a peaceful reunification, a reunification that would result from North Korean regime’s collapse or from an all-out war on the peninsula. It is argued that although the Russian Federation might prefer to see the continuation of the current status quo, in case of any potential security environment shift the peaceful reunification scenario will best assure Russia’s interest in the region.
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The Turks are the largest national minority in Bulgaria. Since the creation of the independent Bulgarian state in the 19th century, i.e., since the Turks began to function as a minority group in this country, they have not identified with their new homeland nor integrated with other ethnic groups. After 1989 the situation has changed, the symbol of which is the activity of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS). The article addresses the situation of the Turkish minority in this new, changed reality of modern Bulgaria.
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Politics, as a human social activity, is strongly embedded in space. Contemporary researchers very often take up in their analyses the issue of competition for space and the role played by "geographical knowledge" in the processes of "production" and appropriation of space in the name of particular interests of a given community or state. It is one of the key research problems that have contributed to the revival of interest in the issues of political competition for space, the appropriation of places and the shaping of their landscape and symbolic representation. Categories such as Mitteleuropa, or the Intermarium, are socio-political (metageographical) constructs that have been used in the construction of a particular vision of the world and in processes of political competition for dominance.
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The aim of this paper is to get acquainted with the process of integration of Bosnia and Herzegovina into the European Union. On May 26, 1999, the Commission presented a proposal to initiate the so-called Stabilization and Association Process. This was approved at the meeting of the Council of the European Union in Luxembourg on June 21, 1999. The Stabilization and Association Process was formalized at the Zagreb Summit in 2000, at which the Union reaffirmed its desire to contribute to the consolidation of democracy and to give decisive support to the process of reconciliation and cooperation between the countries of the Western Balkans. The term Western Balkans is political and is used to distinguish this group of countries from previous ones that have already established relations with the European Union. Methods of analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction, abstraction, description, compilation and content analysis were used in the research. The research shows that Bosnia and Herzegovina still does not sufficiently meet the criteria relating to the stability of institutions guaranteeing democracy, the rule of law, human rights and respect for and protection of minorities, set by the Copenhagen European Council in 1993. Bosnia and Herzegovina must align its constitutional framework with European standards and ensure the functionality of its institutions in order to be able to take on the Union's obligations. In this regard, it is necessary to reform the institutions so that they can effectively participate in decisionmaking at EU level and implement and enforce the acquis
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In this article entitled Sino-Indian territorial dispute implications and perspectives, there is an analysis made on how this dispute started between China and India and what were the major implications that this dispute brought. We will see the importance of this territorial dispute between the two Asian giants and also the opportunities it offered to the great powers such as USSR and the United States. One of the main focuses will be the way China managed to win some of the territories that India had and how did that affect the security of the continent and the relations between the states that were involved in this conflict. This border conflict between China and India is important even today because it still involves the two super powers and their allies mainly because right now China is on the verge of becoming the world’s biggest economy. At the end of the article we will see a comparison between the armies and economies of China and India to see who had the biggest ascension and if they will be able to rise at the same pace, and if not, how will it affect the security of the Asian continent. Knowing the stakes that this conflict had, it is interesting to see what will happen in the future because their border dispute hasn’t concluded since 1962 even though there hasn’t been a major fight between the two armies since the end of the war. No one knows if this conflict will come to an end anytime soon.
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The aim of this article is to identify the main challenges facing the rural areas in the European Union (EU) and to investigate whether implementation of the concept of smart villages makes it possible to face these challenges. These challenges are: depopulation, aging of the society, climate change, growing demand for food, environmental degradation, peripheralization or low income of rural populations, pandemic COVID-19. The first part describes the situation in rural areas, using statistical data from the reports of the European Commission and Eurostat. Then the roots of the concept of smart villages in the European Union were presented. Its six components have been identified: smart society, smart economy, smart agriculture, smart management, smart environment and smart associability. In the last part, it was checked whether the implementation of the concept of smart villages responds to the main challenges faced by rural areas.
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The Arab Spring of 2011 hit Libya particularly hard. The state fell into tehe abyss of the civil war following the death of a long-time dictator Muammar Gaddafi. The chaos in Libya made it resemble failed states and turned i tinto a serious problem for international security. Ultimately, two main centres of power were formed there, supported by various actors in international relations. The fear of terrorism and uncontrolled migrations from this country made the normalization of the situation in Libya one of the vital interests of the European Union. The aim of the article is to discuss the 2011–2021 crisis in Libya and the activity of the EU to mitigate its effects, including of the launch of the EUBAM Libya, Sophia and Irini missions. For the preparation of the paper, first of all, the analysis of UN and EU documents and studies on this subject was used.
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The aim of the article is a political science analysis of the European Union’s response to the humanitarian crisis in Syria. The following research hypotheses will be verified in the publication. Firstly, the European Union functions in an environment of dynamic changes that determine its decisions and actions, which take place on many levels of social life and at the same time on many levels. The European Union’s actions in relation to the humanitarian crisis in Syria are determined by two main variables. The first one occurs at the international level – in this case, with a distinction between the level of the regional system – and combines the effects of the end of the Cold War and globalization processes, i.e. functional and structural elements. It is the hybrid war in Syria. The second variable, unprecedented in its scale, migratory pressure takes place at the level of the interior of the Member States. Secondly, following the hybrid war in Syria and the activity of the so-called Islamic State, the migratory pressure that the European Union began to experience became a threat to its liberal model as well as its internal cohesion. Therefore, by engaging in humanitarian aid for Syria, the European Union wants to prevent a serious crisis within its own structures. A methodological assumption was made according to which the phenomena and processes in the environment of the European Union functioning on many levels are independent variables, while its decisions and actions are dependent variables. In the context of the formulated research hypotheses, the subject of the analysis in the article is, firstly, to define the essence and dynamics of the humanitarian crisis in Syria. Secondly, the identification and analysis of the determinants of that crisis. Third, to show the actions of the European Union in the face of the humanitarian crisis in Syria.
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On the 10th anniversary of the mass protests known as the “Arab Spring” that passed through the southern Mediterranean countries, understanding of the world becomes more complex. For the European Union (EU), the revolts in its neighbors came as a “strategic surprise” and destroyed its prevision assumptions about the region, forcing it to revise them and react quickly. For Arab Societies, they were an expression of “awakening”, breaking the feeling of fear and rebellion against the ruling authoritarian regimes, as well as an attempt to reject the neoliberal way of “arranging the world”. Algeria occupies a strategic place on the map of bilateral relations that the EU maintains with the countries affected by the “Arab Spring”. The geographic proximity, historical past and the potential of this country make the EU present in Algeria “anew”, supporting it in the difficult path of political and economic transformations.The aim of this article is to analyze the impact of the “Arab Spring” on the shape of contemporary EU-Algeria relations, paying attention to the framework set by the “Common Partnership Priorities”, focusing on the three key sectors of cooperation established for 2018–2020.
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The integration of refugees is a major challenge for Europe. Migration management creates right conditions for the fully exploit the potential of educated, active and entrepreneurial people, most of whom are immigrants. Various models of integration offered by EU Member States allow for different use of the potential of migrants. The article describes the main models of attitudes of member states towards migrants.
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The authors deliberate that the EU’s soft power leadership has been inadequate during certain periods of the pandemic, being additionally challenged by proactive campaigns of other international actors. According to the authors, such EU underperformance primarily lies in the damaging fact that the Union perceives and treats aspects like the inoculation process not solely as a health-humanitarian issue, but also as a geostrategic activity. The authors consider that EU logic has been largely shaped by the pre-existing geopolitical distaste for China and Russia, and hence also their subsequent COVID-19-related engagement in Europe. Apart from strategic rivalries, EU international status has been exacerbated by deteriorating relations with the UK. According to the authors, the aforementioned international actors have been applying various soft power instruments during the mass inoculation process against COVID-19 in Europe, which also resulted in consequences that are usually attributed to hard power. Antagonisms between the abovementioned stakeholders manifest in unfavorable phenomena such as “vaccine nationalism” and “jab geopolitics”. The authors argues that a less selective, and more flexible and pragmatic approach would have been more beneficial both for public health and the EU’s impaired reputation in certain parts of CEE.
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The asymmetric global economic recovery from the aftermath of COVID-19 and the accompanying “vaccine apartheid” has opened space for OPEC’s new political role on the international stage, at a time when, according to UN Secretary-General Guterres, humanity has “crossed the red line” regarding climate change. In the text, we express our belief that OPEC's narrative that “energy must be accessible to all” takes a new negotiating position towards the advocates of a rapid transition to the exploitation of renewable energy sources, and gives space for joint business and eventual political arrangements with the poorer part of the world. The text highlights OPEC's arguments against disjunction: either oil or renewable energy, and points to Africa’s new energy attractiveness for this group of oil-producing countries.
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