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Aim of this article is to analyze politician Bernie Sanders, who tried win nomination of theDemocratic Party to the White House. Sanders autoidentity is democratic socialist, he is admirer ofFranklin Delano Roosevelt presidency. This persona is strictly connected with an alter-globalistmovement, especially Occupy Wall Street. Sanders made great effort to promote in Americasocialdemocratic ideas.
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Immediately after the end of World War II, Western Allies organized refugee camps in their occupation zones in Austria, Italy and Germany which existed until early 1950s. Foreign citizens, such as forced laborers and prisoners of concentration camps, who had been found mostly in Germany and Austria after the collapse of the German Reich, were placed in those camps, as well as military and civilian post-hostilities refugees fleeing from the Red Army and partisan-communist forces from Eastern, Central and Southeastern Europe. A great number of persons were extradited to their countries of origin on charges of war crimes. Among them were many Croats, primarily members of the Croatian armed forces and the Ustasha movement. The remaining refugees are displaced around the world especially in countries of South and North America and in Australia.
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The paper aims to provide an analysis of the politics of two local interest groups of Prešov, the so-called city parties, as specific forms of middle class dissatisfaction in the interwar period. Based on contemporary election results and archival sources, the first part of the study examines the political behaviour of the inhabitants of Prešov between 1920 and 1935, which helps to determine to what extent the city parties were popular among the multilingual and multi-religious voters. The second part investigates the social composition and the political discourse of the city parties. These local political groups were supported by 10-12% of the voters. Most of their followers were organized among the liberal middle classes, who were not able to identity with the politics of the big parliamentary parties. Their members defined themselves mainly against the Communist and Catholic movement. However, they also criticized the measures of the Czechoslovak government. And at the level of discourse they expressed dissatisfaction with the domestic policy of Czechoslovakia in the form of a virtual community of city burghers, regardless of their ethnic backgrounds. It is argued that because of the high percentage of Hungarian and Jewish intellectuals and entrepreneurs among the leaders and supporters of the local parties, this type of local politics might have been an alternative to the Jewish and Hungarian national politics at a local level.
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The text suggests an analysis of the “culture of protest“ within the time frame of the “protest year of 2013“ in the cultural and social context of Bulgaria. The basis of the study – inscription (“thick description“) and specification (“diagnosis“) in the sense of Clifford Geerz (1971) – is a “microscopic“ social fact, namely the book Smilov, Daniel and Lea Vaysova (eds.). #Theprotest: Analyses and Positions in the Bulgarian press, the Summer of 2013. Sofia, “Iztok-Zapad“, 2013 (Смилов, Даниел и Леа Вайсова (съст.). #Протестът: анализи и позиции в българската преса, лято 2013, София, „Изток-Запад“, 2013). The publication which collects and (re)frames selected media stream within particular period of time, i.e. the book as an abstract collection of words/images (text) existing in a material form, is here understood as a social fact in the sense of Emile Durkheim. The adoption of such approach allows the comment to acquire specific outlines – the study of this „text-as-a-book“ neither brings to the fore the abstract dimensions (the text) of the book, which is usually the field of the literary critique and the text hermeneutics, nor focalizes exclusively the material dimensions, which is reserved for the history of the book and the analytical bibliography. The aim here is to describe and understand society and the social by examining and tracing the connections which exert an influence and exist between the simultaneous engagement of the abstract and the material side of this book as a social fact, as well as the social activities within it.
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The 10th Majlis election was held in the Islamic Republic of Iran on 26 February 2016. The election witnessed a record number of disqualified candidates by the Guardian Council. Notwithstanding this, the pro-government candidates were well-received by the voters. President Hassan Rouhani’s foreign policy and the nuclear deal that had concluded with the international community, held a special place in the political debates during the election. This paper first analyses the importance of the 10th Majlis election in Iran in the light of President Rouhani’s foreign policy. Secondly, it explores the election process. This paper argues that elections in Iran suffer from four types of issues. First characteristic is closely linked with the theocratic nature of the Iranian political system. Second one is connected with the Iranian electoral system. Third one arises from the inefficiency of electoral institutions. Finally, those issues caused by the discriminative approach of the Iranian ruling elites towards certain political parties and ethno religious groups.
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Despite 15 years of major domestic and international peacekeeping and stabilization efforts, there are still major obstacles to state building in BiH. One of the clear signs of the internal divisions and tensions has been the recent alarming trend of efforts to curtail the development of free and independent media in the country to support the process of reconciliation with the past and the growth of a strong civil society. What has been the role of the media in BiH in the process of transitional justice? Have the print media encouraged a constructive social dialogue about the past or they have contributed to further divisions among BiH citizens? This paper looks at the role of print media in the process of transitional justice in BiH. The study investigates the role of the media as a unifying or dividing factor in the process of transition in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The paper then looks more in depth into the case of BiH and the print media‘s role for transitional justice‘s successes and failures so far. It argues that the print media have had a more negative impact on the processes of transitional justice in BiH because of the persistent nationalistic rhetoric creating a divided image of Bosnian society.
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In the years of establishment of the republic a population census that allows to evaluate aspects of qualifications and quantity of community living in Anatolia, detailed records and data were not available. Ensuring the foundation of the nation-state for the newly established Republic of Turkey, determining the population in Anatolia through modern methods and population census in order to use the country's economic resources efficiently was very important. Therefore, Statistics Department was established in 1926 to designate qualitative and quantitative characteristics of the population of Turkey and determine the values related to population. The first general population census was carried out on October 28, 1927, after the census law was enacted on 2 June 1926. This census population includes social and economic data such as the marital status of the population, literacy status, disabilities and economic activities and this increases the importance of the 1927 General Population Census. The fact that the first population census realized by the Republican administration was carried out in accordance with the standards of the Western countries, is also important. In this study, the issues of the population of Aksaray province according to the results of 1927 General Population Census were evaluated. In the research, it was aimed to reveal the social, cultural and economic characteristics of the province of Aksaray in 1927, such as the male-female, literate, religious structure, used native language and profession of the population. About the research topic Prime Ministry Statistics General Directorate 1927 Public Census and various analytical texts published on population were examined and the demographic characteristics of Aksaray province were tried to be detailed within the information obtained.
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This is the second Alternative Progress Report on Bosnia and Herzegovina’s path towards the EU membership. The report is a joint effort of dozens of individuals and organizations whose common goal was to show the current state of integration of Bosnia and Herzegovina from the perspective of civil society organizations. Having in mind that the official Progress Report on Bosnia and Herzegovina is a political report of the European Commission, we believe that the publication of the Alternative report can affect its content. Because of this, we are publishing this Alternative Progress Report nearly three months before the publication of the official one, hoping that it will have an impact on the formulation of the formal report. The report completely relies on the so-called political criteria, focusing on the following questions: - Democracy and the functionality of the State, - Rule of law and corruption, - Human rights, especially the rights of minorities and vulnerable groups, and - Transitional Justice During the 2013 and 2014, we have witnessed that no relevant progress has been achieved. The process of implementation of the Sejdić and Finci v. Bosnia and Herzegovina ruling is completely displaced from the Parliament. Performance of the democratic parliaments and governments on state, entity and cantonal levels is extremely low. The work of the institutions is characterized as unstable, inefficient and with notable lack of transparency. The decisions of the constitutional courts are still not implemented. No significant and systematic policies to combat human rights violations have been adopted. Judicial reform has been stopped and Structured Dialogue on Justice between B&H and the EU does not show any progress. Not a single significant case of corruption has been processed. Minority and vulnerable groups still live in difficult conditions. Discrimination and violence are all-present, and the law on prohibition of discrimination did not show the expected results, having in mind that five years after the enactment of the law, only two final judgments were passed. Comprehensive anti-discrimination policies for social integration either do not exist, or are almost never applied. Floods additionally hit the most vulnerable groups in society. Furthermore, the most vulnerable groups in society have been affected by the recent floods. The prosecution of war crimes and dealing with the past, as prerequisites for creating a healthy environment and building a common state, represent an additional problem. Political support for war criminals by the leaders of political parties only further divide the already highly fragmented society. We hope that the general elections in October of 2014 (although held by discriminatory rules) will bring more stable political structure, ready to face different problems. Initiative for the Monitoring of the European Integration of Bosnia and Herzegovina will certainly advocate change, in terms of adopting new laws and policies, and the implementation thereof. We also hope that the BiH authorities and the EU institutions will support a stronger representation of civil society within the various forums within the EU integration. Civil society must become the third actor in this process along with the State and EU institutions.
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„Alexandru and Aristia Aman” County Library, together with „Alexandru and Aristia Aman” Fundation as organizers, the Romanian Academy, „C.S. Nicolaescu Plopșor” Social–Humanist Sciences Institute – Craiova, Scientists Academy of Romania, the Archaeological and Historical Sciences, Faculty of Social Sciences and Faculty of Theology, as partners, organized during October 25 – November 5, 2015 the 8th International Conference State and Society in Europe. The works of the conference lasted for almost two weeks, October 25 –November 5, 2015, and were held at „Alexandru and Aristia Aman” County Library of Craiova, The Restoration Center of the Faculty of Theology of Craiova and The Universitaries House, Romania.
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The labels we attach today to distinguish political regimes have histories. Applying them without understanding these histories is sometimes anachronistic and ethnocentric. I have little new to say about “democracy” and “dictatorship”, so that the discussion of these concepts is just a reminder. “Authoritarianism”, however, is a dubious neologism. I advance two claims: (1) In all regimes the power to command and be obeyed entails some dose of reason-giving, (2) What distinguishes regimes is the form and the extent to which the authority of rulers is monopolised by physical force. I conclude that the concept of “authoritarianism” adds little to the distinction between democracy and dictatorship.
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This paper will analyze the causes that led Somalia to become a failed state and the slow pace of recovery discovered by Mogadishu in the recent years. The study is based on qualitative research, analyzing documents which depict the particular history of Somalia and the causes that led to the civil war, as well as quantitative data, when analyzing the number of casualties and refugees that resulted following the unfolding of the Somali conflict. Examining also the rise of the terrorist group Al-Shabaab and the ways in which such organizations manage to replace the role of the state, the paper concludes that the task of rebuilding a failed state is a long and arduous process, in which the international community should adapt its measures to the local specificity of the concerned area. However,as the recent developments show, there is room for hope for the Somali state and people.
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The current socio-political and economic environment places Europe’s youth in a burdensome position. The financial crisis from the past decade, as well as the remnants of the political transitions after the fall of communism in Southeast Europe, have spelled some of the worst conditions for young people in historic terms, particularly in this region.Youth unemployment is unprecedentedly high. The education system seems to fail in providing young people with the skills and knowledge to succeed. Governments are perceived as vastly detached from the issues relevant to their youngest constituencies. Political apathy is rampant. In the present environment, perspectives of young people are increasingly important, as they signal the urgent areas of action and can navigate social research and government policy. The present paper provides an overview of the current attitudes among young people in Bulgaria and Southeast Europe based on previous research and personal observation, filling some of the existing gaps in common perceptions of young citizens.
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In a matter of just two years, the devastated Ukrainian army has turned itself into one of the most efficient armies in Europe, mostly thanks to volunteers and private donations. However, reform of the defence system has lagged due to the rampant corruption and bureaucracy of the state, forcing many volunteers to give up.
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Young People in Greece and Europe
Greece – as well as many EU countries – is in an admittedly hard situation, regarding politics,economics, social injustices, etc. This situation has taken its toll on everyone, but mostly on the younger generations and their perception of the future of Europe. On the one hand, we are facing extremism, which has started to arise since the beginning of the refugee crisis. On the other hand, youth unemployment and cut-backs on public expenditure – with whatever consequences these may have – are examples of how a stable future for young people is slowly being destroyed.Is Greece capable of protecting its young citizens from dangers such as waste of potential?Does moving to some other EU country sound more appealing? Is there light at the end of the tunnel for the younger generation? I frequently like to think maybe, but possibly not. I also feel that we must remain committed to create this light, to enlarge it and share it with the young in Greece, in Southeast Europe and elsewhere. Despite everything and in light of.
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Neo-liberalism is, undoubtedly, today’s dominant economical and political ideology. This paper is an attempt to give a general outline of where it derived from, what was it based on, and how it became the leading driving force in the field of economy and politics.
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On December 10th, 2014 the Constitutional Court of Serbia rendered a decision declaring itself incompetent to review so-called „Brussels Agreement“, governing the normalization of relations between the Government of the Republic of Serbia and Interim Institutions of Local Self-Government in Priština. The Constitutional Court based its decision on procedural grounds, finding that neither Brussels Agreement nor internal acts adopted by the Serbian Government and National Assembly with regard to that Agreement, could be subjected to judicial review in accordance with Article 167 of the Serbian Constitution. The author of this article agrees with the Court decision, but not with its reasoning leading to a denial of jurisdiction. The article offers alternative road to a declaration of incompetence, which the Court could have reached following the separation of powers principle and the political question doctrine. Starting from the comparative constitutional jurisprudence, the contents and aims of the Brussels Agreement, as well as political context in which it was reached, the author of this article has shown the following: (a) the Brussels Agreement was not reached in order to allow the refunctioning of the state power on the territory of Kosovo and Metohija, but to protect the Serbian people living at KiM and general state interests to the extent possible in the given political situation, until the re-establishment of full sovereignty; (b) the Constitutional Court could not establish its jurisdiction ratione materiae and decide whether the protective mechanisms, envisaged in the Agreement, that is – the establishment of a Community/ Association of municipalities in which Serbs represented a majority of the population, as well as organization of judicial power and police units, could have protected Serbs and general state interests in Kosovo and Metohija, because this was a political question which was unjusticiable and could not be resolved by legal standards.
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