Around the Bloc: Three Confess to Kadyrov Assassination Plot: Report
Though details remain sketchy, the affair seems to center around a feud between the Chechen leader and a prominent local family.
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Though details remain sketchy, the affair seems to center around a feud between the Chechen leader and a prominent local family.
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Polish contacts with the Caucasus region one date back to the late Middle Ages, and intensified in the period of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth’s great-ness, as it sought allies in that region in the fight against Turkey. After the parti-tion of Poland in the 19th century a large group of Poles – several hundred thou-sand strong – was exiled to Caucasus. They were political exiles and soldiers serving in the Russian army, and later civilians of various professions. Their fates become at first the subject of interest of memoirs authors, and later the subject of scientific research. This promoted Polish-Caucasian relations, which reached its apogee in the interwar period. It was connected with the Promethean movement, which then gained wide popularity in Poland.Hitherto achievements of the Polish Caucasology invites us to reflect on its condition today. The paper aims to present the most important changes in Pol-ish studies of Caucasus, focusing on the most recent achievements. The purpose of this activity was to determinante the feasibility of Polish Caucasology in solv-ing research problems. Therefore, an attempt was made to analyse Polish Caucaso-logical publication, paying particular attention to the area of the issue of research, the methodology used and the cognitive value of results. Attention was focused on several selected publications, which according to the author characterized the most important directions of research of contemporary Polish Caucasology. This applies to the work of Polish scholars and those from the West, which lived to see the Polish editions. This stems from the belief that it is this group of publicationsthat have the greatest impact on the face of contemporary Caucasus research in Poland, and thus the strongest influence on the younger generation of researchers.Analysis of the achievements of contemporary Polish Caucasus studies dem-onstrate their intensive development. This applies both to a significant expansion of the area of research interests of Polish Caucasologists, as well as the intensifi-cation of scientific exchange with foreign centres. After a period of domination of historical issues we can observed expanding interests in various areas of contem-porary political and social change. In recent years, there have been publications of results of own research on the problems of the political elite and the mechanisms of governance in Caucasus. Scientific level of these publications is extremely di-versified – from highly original research to repetitive works and compilations. It is difficult to blame for this state of affairs only researchers who have not yet lived to see a single Caucasological research centre. It is an example of the lack of ability to adapt the structure and organization to current needs in Polish science.
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In line with the new conditions created by the 1973 economic crisis, the bourgeois state has gained a new form which intervenes more into the economy. This form known as ”authoritarian statism” called by Poulantzas has erased the boundaries between legislation, executive and jurisdiction branches while transferring the power from legislation to the executive. Under the circumstances where the legislation lost its ground in the state structure, the initiative of law proposing is mostly captured by the executive branch. This situation has weakened the Rule of Law because of the increasing tendency of executive branch to pass personalized laws for the “urgent economic necessities”. It’s also the same transformation witnessed in bourgeois state in Turkey particularly after 1980. Because of the strong legislation before 1980, the transformation could not be realized through democratic ways and it was only achieved by the 1980 military coup. 1980 coup have created a strong presidency and executive by means of putting high level electoral threshold (10 percent), by giving increased authority to the executive branch in issuing decrees having force of law and twin bureaucracy. The transformation making hegemonic the executive among the other branches has reached to a new phase after the 2001 crisis. The 2001 Crisis was a moment of collapse for central right and left parties that could not complete the neoliberal transformation. After the crisis, the election held in 2002 transferred the power to a new party, AKP. Since then, during the AKP reign in power, Turkey has experienced many transformations including in the sphere of separation of powers. The reality that shapes the post-2002 process is the transfer of legislation power to the executive branch. This has been realized not only on the ground created by the 1982 Constitution, but also with the omnibus law practices accelerated de facto since the 22nd Legislation Term. Basic law and the omnibus law are often used in the same way, however with different general features and the legalization technics, the omnibus law is a new type of law that developed de facto. This law and the new law-making form it brought have become the main tools of transferring the power from legislation to the executive in the period of post-2001.
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This paper deals with the development of relations between the U.S. and Cuba from 1959 till now. Its aim is to analyse main factors and facts that led to the creation of special relations between these two states. These two neighbouring countries did not maintain diplomatic relations for more than half of the century and their economic relations were frozen as the result of extensive economic embargo imposed by the U.S. However, following certain subjective but especially objective factors, the barriers for development of political and economic cooperation were gradually removed from 2008. Despite that, the relations between the U.S. and Cuba cannot be characterized as friendly. The countries have different social structure and different attitudes toward understanding of such terms as democracy and human rights. Objective development in the world, especially the processes of social and economic globalization lead to the easing of some dogmas and also some social and economic changes are visible slow. Normalization of relations between the U.S. and Cuba should help to improve economic situation on Cuba. However, both players have their own attitude towards the process of liberalization of mutual relations and their further development. Despite that, there is a resumption of dialogue and cooperation between both states.
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Celem artykułu jest ukazanie pewnych trudności, problemów natury etycznej i dylematów moralnych jakie napotyka badacz jakościowy w terenie. Poruszane zagadnienia są własnymi refleksjami autorki po przeprowadzonych badaniach terenowych w przestrzeni miasta z perspektywy pedagogiki resocjalizacyjnej.
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Autorka analizuje pojęcie normatywności, które relatywnie rzadko pojawia się w literaturze z zakresu socjologii nauki. Koncepcję normatywności przedstawia w perspektywie neofunkcjonalnej, by głębiej wniknąć w powiązania omawianego zagadnienia z socjologią nauki i poddać nowe ścieżki analizy – w tym przypadku – w obrębie problemu rozumienia nauki. Naświetla relacje między typami normatywizacji a neofunkcjonalną teorią w socjologii, zwłaszcza dorobkiem Gunthera Teubnera. W ostatniej części artykułu autorka zwraca się w stronę zarządzania nauką, tematu wymagającego jednak dodatkowych studiów z uwzględnieniem szczegółowych kontekstów.
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Political realism claims that politics can be understood only on its own terms. Realist political theory attempts to have the autonomy of politics recognized and to emancipate politics from the authority of other domains such as ethics, economy or aesthetics. After the democratic transition, Hungarian political theory has claimed autonomy of politics as opposed to technocratic and other deterministic approaches. The study discusses two texts of Hungarian political theory which, differing from the mainstream, conceived the problem of the autonomy of politics in the context of the relationship between politics and morality. János Kis’ ‘Politics as a Moral Problem’ and István Schlett’s answer to that book, ‘Morality as a Political Problem’ represent the two main standpoints in the realist – moralist debate described by contemporary realist theory, however, neither of them fi ts into those positions perfectly. The differences analysed in this article emerge regarding the autonomy of politics. As a conclusion, it is supposed that the concept of the autonomy of politics cannot account for a realist approach to politics.
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Nisu nimalo neprirodne podele ljudi prema njihovim različitim narodnim i geografskim osobinama. Međutim, u tim podelama nijedna grupa ne može biti posebno istaknuta u smislu da njoj mora obavezno pripasti politička moć. Društvena zajednica koja poseduje suverenitet i političku moć u islamskoj saznajnoj tradiciji naziva se milet. Naravno, milet ovde nipošto ne znači nacija, već zajednički put koji su izabrali članovi društva u svetlu intuitivnog i racionalnog saznanja, a koji vodi suštinama ontoloških realnosti. Nacija pak, na modernom Zapadu, oslanja se na osetna i emotivna saznanja o narodnoj pristrasnosti i kao takva postaje merilo političkog suvereniteta. U stvari, nacija je danas novo čovekovo društveno ja koje ni na koji način ne manifestuje uzvišene ontološke realnosti, već sámo stvara realnost. Zbog toga, u ovom radu insistiramo na tome da je nacionalizam sasvim nova ideologija modernističkog doba, koja nikada ranije u istoriji ljudske misli nije bila kredibilna. O tome kako nacija može biti merilo i izvor istine, vrednosti i prava, u ovom radu koristimo analize modernih racionalističkih filozofa i nemačkih romantičara. Objasnićemo takođe da u saznajnom stadijumu islama ovakva ideologija mora biti jasno opovrgnuta. U religijskim tradicijama, rodbinske, finansijske i ostale materijalne privilegije smatraju se mogućim uzrocima propasti društva. A istinske privilegije jesu samo plemenitost i čistota duše. Izvor blaženstva, mira i harmonije treba videti upravo u njima, a ne u nacionalnim državama koje su uzrok suprotstavljenih identiteta, interesa, teritorijalnih težnji i uzrok patnji. Ipak, mnoga nezapadna društva, pa i naša, još uvek se utrkuju u tome ko će biti ekstremniji pobornik ideologije nacionalizma.
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Na Konferenciji održanoj u hotelu “Sarajevo” 15. maja 2013. godine, a u povodu javnog predstavljanja preporuka ekspertnog tima za reformu Ustava FBiH, učesnici te važne debate civilnog društva iznijeli su zanimljive prijedloge, konkretna očitovanja na preporuke ekspertne grupe, bilo je korisnih sugestija, dilema koje su ostale nerazriješene, ali ono što se može generalizirati kao opći ton skupa, bila je vrlo jasna fokusiranost na same preporuke. I intencija Konferencije bila je vrlo pragmatična: radom u nekoliko tematskih grupa, plus centralna panel diskusija, odrediti se prema preporukama kao ozbiljnom intelektualnom i stručnopravnom poduhvatu skupine vrijednih i kompetentnih ljudi koji nisu lišeni empatijskog obrasca, a koji u ovako složenoj zemlji nije ništa manje važan od jurisprudencije.
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Public policy making is a multi-layer and dynamic process in which very many public policy actors participate. Government as a chief state power representative is one of the actors who needs another key actor (not less important one) in the process of exercising power and the actor is media. The paper investigates the relation between media and policy, it discusses the role modern mass media play in day-to day process of public policy making in a democratic and legislation-oriented country. The topic is based on the theory of public policy making and its position in a modern community where a sequence-based attitude towards public policy making is employed while emphasising the role mass media play in the process of decision making for the sake of public interest.
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This study aims to explain how the concept of state is perceived by the anthropologist Julian Steward and political scientist Karl Wittfogel. Especially it is about how Julian Steward is influenced from the opinions of Wittfogel, who investigate the state and the origin of it. After evolution became the focus of interest again in the aftermath of WWII, many concepts became subject of curiosity. One of these concepts is state. Wittfogel realized the importance of irrigation while he tried to explain the origin of state. Like Wittfogel, Steward was interested in the importance of irrigation, too; but his interest is not only for explaining the origin of state but also for verifying his own theories, such as cultural anthropology. If that is so, then to what degree has Steward utilized the opinions of Wittfogel while he defended his theories?
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The European Union currently faces many problems, including its image among the public in member states. This article goes back in time to the Grand Accession from 2004 to remember a rather positive approach of candidate countries to the EU. The aim is to investigate whether and how the whole movement has influenced public diplomacy activities as it represented a significant political impulse in many candidate countries. This study examines the pre-accession strategy and later activities at the strategic documents level. Using the documentary analysis, text focuses on the occurrence of some terms associated with good image and presentation in documents as well as changes in conceptual apparatus that was used. The results show that there is a difference in influence of the pre-accession strategy on the information and communication strategy on European affairs and public diplomacy or general presentation abroad. Differences arise primarily in the terminology used, the frequency of documents adopted and the extent to which they are being met. Each area is also managed by another government body. Principles of the campaign and communication on European affairs with domestic public became an integral part of domestic information policy and the occurrence of its documents has intensified over time. On the other hand, general presentation and good image of a country, even if presented in concepts of foreign policy and government statements, until recently has had almost no practical impact on the activities of state authorities. It is nevertheless considered an impulse for the authorities to give a broader reflection on the good name of the country abroad.
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The paper introduces the concept of ontological security to the study of de facto states and forwards the claim that the field would greatly benefit from putting more emphasis on the identity of these entities by drawing on a growing body of literature about state identity and ontological security. The starting premise is that, while non-recognition illegalizes de facto states and threatens their physical security, non-engagement presents no physical threat, but de-legitimizes de facto states and threatens their ontological security. The main argument developed on this basis is that de facto states act to fulfil their self-identity needs and preserve their ontological security, sometimes going as far as compromising their physical security and even their existence. The author goes on to provide arguments for the relevance of an ontological security perspective for the study of de facto states and – in particular – of the post-Soviet de facto states). In the second part of the paper, state identity and ontological security in the Caucasus are discussed in order to shed light on the relations between honour, identity, and foreign policy. Finally, the ontological security perspective is applied to analyse the case of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria (CRI) between 1996 and 1999, its eventual defeat and reincorporation into its parent state – the Russian Federation.
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This paper focuses on an analysis of political and scientific reflections by academic Mihailo Marković, with special review of the links existing between ideology and science. Unlike ideology, whose scope is limited in terms of value and science, Mihailo Marković regards philosophy as a science open to all humankind. A prominent place in Marković’s research belonged to the conservative ideology and in this context, distinction was made between the conservative spirit in its broader sense, manifested in its views on art, creation and all other segments of life and conservatism as an ideological and political position. Th e aim of this paper is to explore Mihailo Marković’s approach to the value system proposed by conservative ideology, leading to the author’s conclusion that Marković had an objectively critical approach in his analysis of conservatism. Marković discovered a humanistic alternative to all forms of conservatism, proposing radical democratic socialism as a appropriate substitute model.
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Military infantry recruits, although trained, lacks experience in real-time combat operations, despite the combat simulations training. Therefore, the choice of including them in military operations is a thorough and careful process. This has left top military commanders with the tough task of deciding, the best blend of inexperienced and experienced infantry soldiers, for any military operation,based on available information on enemy strength and capability. This research project delves into the design of a mission combat efficiency estimator (MCEE). It is a decision support system that aids top military commanders in estimating the best combination of soldiers suitable for different military operations, based on available information on enemy’s combat experience. Hence, its advantages consist of reducing casualties and other risks that compromises the entire operation overall success, and also boosting the morals of soldiers in an operation, with such information as an estimation of combat efficiency of their enemies. The system was developed using Microsoft Asp.Net and Sql server back end. A case study test conducted with the MECEE system, reveals clearly that the MECEE system is an efficient tool for military mission planning in terms of team selection. Hence, when the MECEE system is fully deployed it will aid military commanders in the task of decision making on team members’ combination for any given operation based on enemy personnel information that is well known beforehand. Further work on the MECEE will be undertaken to explore fire power types and impact in mission combat efficiency estimation.
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A country’s economy has a special role in a country’s defense. The organization of the national defense is carried out not only through the development of national armed forces, but also by increasing the sustainability of the economic activity for provision of the State and population demands during war. For this reason, development of the economic potential, taking necessary measures for preparation and sustainability of labor, material and financial resources are one of the significant issues and studying the conceptual, legal and economic issues related to the duties of the economy in the organization of state defense in Azerbaijan is very crucial.
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This article focuses on the research and development concept and its support to the Slovak state defense. It compares the latter with the Manifest of the Government Slovak Republic, dated 2016. It shows on mistakes and wrong steps in military policy oriented to support military science and research.In conclusion shows on some solutions to development military science and research to next years.
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Access to food is more than ever a question of interest. The world needs to produce at least 50% more food to feed 9 billion people by 2050. The land,biodiversity, oceans, forests, and other forms of natural capital are being depleted at unprecedented rates. Unless we change how we grow our food and manage our natural capital, food security – especially for the world’s poorest – will be at risk. In this context we expect that the struggle for food to generate migration, conflicts and,why not, international intervention defined by the new Copenhagen School of Security Studies paradigm. Since March 2008 governments, UN agencies and many social movements have adopted positions on the causes of the food crisis and the means to address it. Unfortunately, while these parties are trying to coordinate their activities and suggest new approaches, the old recipes for producing more food are often brought up. Contradictory proposals are made and the thought given to the causes underlying hunger and the food crisis (social, economic and political discrimination and exclusion) has gone largely unheeded. The first Millennium Development Goal,which called for cutting the percentage of hungry people by half by 2015, is clearly out of reach. But the food crisis might lead to a new world food order.
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Agenda 2030 has set up a global partnership revitalized which has facilitating involvement intensive worldwide in support of the implementation of all objectives and targets, bringing together governments, civil society, private sector, United Nations system and other stakeholders and mobilizing all available resources.
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