Transitions Online-Around the Block-21April
Today’s regional news: Slovak government pledges; North Ossetians and Bosnians protest lockdowns; a hot spot flares in Estonia; and world press freedom rankings.
More...We kindly inform you that, as long as the subject affiliation of our 300.000+ articles is in progress, you might get unsufficient or no results on your third level or second level search. In this case, please broaden your search criteria.
Today’s regional news: Slovak government pledges; North Ossetians and Bosnians protest lockdowns; a hot spot flares in Estonia; and world press freedom rankings.
More...
News from around the bloc: Saakashvili’s back again; fire at Polish national park; COVID strikes Ukrainian monastery; fines in Romania; and a birthday party on Red Square.
More...
Our news roundup: Russian cathedral to celebrate the military; Polish mines close amid dozens of COVID-19 cases; the fight against dirty money in Armenia; outbreak at Belarusian orphanage; and ending transgender in Hungary.
More...
Amid the pandemic, Russia, China, and others find time to debate the timing of the beginning and end of World War II and other details of years long past.
More...
The wave of virus disinformation underlines and magnifies the continued crisis among earnest tellers of “truth” to power.
More...
This paper analyses the Osijek citizenry between 1809 and 1814 on the basis of data recorded in the Osijek Registry of Citizens. It provides a short description of sources that facilitate research into the citizens of Osijek; it adduces the civil rights granted by the Charter of the Free Royal City of Osijek from 1809 and the requirements for obtaining citizenship. The data analysis is based on the Registry because this source provides the highest number of individual data on each citizen. By applying statistical, comparative and descriptive methods, an endeavour is made to present the number, the religious and the “national” structure, the marital status and the scope of activities of Osijek citizens. The paper comprises the period from 1809, when Osijek acquired the free royal status, until 1814 when the Osijek non-noble population was recorded for the first time. Hence, this is the first census of commoners after Osijek was proclaimed a free royal city. The proclamation of Osijek as a free royal city created the preconditions for the Osijek population to acquire civic status which resulted in a series of privileges for individuals, including personal freedom, inalienability of properties and non-payment of certain levies. The obtained data on the Osijek citizenry in this paper are the result of the analysis of the Registry of Citizens; the following conclusions can be drawn: in the period between 1809 and 1814, 569 persons complying with the requirements necessary for taking a civic oath were registered.
More...
Looking for safety and control, some Romanians are moving into isolated residential complexes.
More...
In a time when terrorism has become a regular topic in newspapers and on television, security appears as a recent and urgent issue. CCTV cameras and surveillance operate in a great part of western public space and life. This article focuses on the ways in which the radicalized internal security policy of the Bluebell Hill Development, in Alan Ayckbourn‘s play Neighbourhood Watch (2011), reflects on Great Britain‘s security policy and society’s need for safety and security throughout the early 21st century. Security policy is one of the main issues in the western countries of the late 20th and the early 21st century. The paradox of using surveillance - a restriction of freedom - for the protection of freedom can be seen in Neighbourhood Watch. The result of contradictory security measures, as argued in this article, leads to paranoia. Neighbourhood Watch functions as a mirror to present-day Great Britain‘s security measures, while using the microcosm of a small neighbourhood.
More...
This article analyzes the rise and diffusion of the radicalchanges in the fields of international relations and social security thatpose a challenge for capitalist representative democracy. This conceptreflects the simple idea that the era characterized by strong globaleconomic influences, worldwide aging population, longevity and longerlife expectancy, changing labor markets, migration, technological andcommunications developments, mobility and transportation gives noreason to believe in representative democracy as the future of the world.This article suggests a new point of view on the discussion of the factorsthat mostly influence social order, social security, labor markets anddemocracy.
More...
It is clear that the prohibition of discrimination and theprinciple of equality are one of the most important principles of humanrights. Today, since the number of discrimination issues has increasedin the usual flow of life, the matter of how far the valid law can protectindividual, who constitutes the core of the society from discrimination iscontroversial. In Turkish Constitution, there is no independent articlewhich orders the prohibition of discrimination. Cases which relate to thediscrimination are considered with the principle of equality in Article 10.The scope of the present paper is to show how the prohibition of discriminationis embodied in Turkish Constitutional Court’s approach and itshistorical background. Secondarily, the Turkish Constitutional Court’sapproach regarding these issues are emphasized and to what extent thedecisions given by the Turkish Constitutional Court are similar to thedecisions given by ECHR are argued. Comparative and historical methodwill be used in this paper.
More...
The goal of the article is to show what role did the racist elements play in the ideology of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalistsand whether they were present in that ideology at all. In the scientifi cdiscourse it remains controversial, whether OUN was in fact a fascistorganization. Those discussions very often ignore the question of racismand its role in both Italian fascism and Ukrainian nationalism. It is alsorarely analyzed what was the nature of those racist elements.In the article the historical-legal method has been used, as well asthe comparative method. The problem has not been analyzed in thechronological manner, in order to secure the clarity of the article Appliedstructure of the paper allows showing the analyzed problem from themost general questions to more detailed ones. Works of the ideologistsconnected with OUN, such as Dmytro Dontsov, Volodymyr Martynec’,Dmytro Orlyk, Yuliyan Vassyjan and Yuriy Lypa have been analyzed,Author decided to underline most important parts of their thought presented in their books and pamphlets and compare their views on eachissue. It allowed to indicate that racism is often a topic presented in theworks of the ideologists of OUN, although there is no one version of thatthought. Every author presents his own view on that topic and otherapproach. However, they seem to become gradually more interested inthe problem of the race in late 30’s and 40’s. However Ukrainian racismis not a biological racism. It treats the race as the spiritual phenomenonwith a biological substrate.
More...
The late Soviet model of citizen participation in the maintenance of public order presupposed massive and quite standardized forms, regulated by the Communist Party and Komsomol units and only coordinated by the police. The post-Soviet period from 1990 until mid-2000s is characterized by a variety of practices: in some places DNDs (dobrovol’nye narodnye druzhiny, people’s volunteer squads) were preserved and developed, while in other places the practice disappeared. From the second half of the 2000s, and especially since the beginning of 2010s, the top-down mobilization process of the revival of DNDs has gradually intensified. In 2014 the general rights and procedures for DND activities were granted by federal legislation, and as a result the DNDs have had a chance to develop in Russia. This article considers the organizational mechanisms and forms of DND activism before and after the adoption of this new legislative framework from the perspective of the DND leaders and state officials. The main conclusion is that increased standardization and unification of the movement through intensive mobilization via two channels (the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the executive branch more generally), on the one hand, led to a significant revision and sometimes even a breakdown of local traditions in DNDs, which had developed at the local and regional levels, and, on the other hand, created supercentralized and simulated forms of DND in places where they had not existed.
More...
State control over the Russian internet (Runet) has been enforced by dedicated administrations and private digital entrepreneurs since the early 2010s. Along with them, groups of digital vigilantes report on “negative” online content and claim to be fighting against activities considered to be criminal or contrary to social norms. However, their ideological convictions and moral supports are diverse and changing. This article analyses two nonprofits: Molodezhnaia Sluzhba Bezopasnosti (MSB, Youth Security Service) and Liga Bezopasnogo Interneta (LBI, Safe Internet League), which sponsors an emergent “cyber Cossack” movement. MSB, which can be referred to as “citizen investigators,” has developed a high degree of technical and legal experience and cooperates actively with the police. LBI promotes a conservative vigilantism to ensure “virtuous browsing,” with a strong focus on education. In March 2019 hearings at the Russian Civic Chamber on a bill addressing the activity of kiberdruzhiny (cyber patrols) revealed tensions between the “politically involved” (Duma members and kiberdruzhiny’s organizations) supporting the bill and the “experts” (representatives of internet companies and security specialists) opposed to it alleging the proposed law’s inefficiency. A third group, the supporters of a free and democratic Runet, is absent from the official debates but speaks out on social networks and through independent media against the development of civil surveillance.
More...
Recent international research highlights the link between women’s empowerment, social cohesion, and resilience to violence, and finds clear correlations between gender inequality and community-level susceptibility to violence. Conversely, the benefits of women’s empowerment extend beyond women and girls to society as a whole: equal relations between women and men translate into better relations between and among ethnic groups and political opponents. Quantitative research in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) paints a similar picture. A 2018 survey found that respondents strongly supporting the freedom of women to work outside the home, hold political office, and decide whether or not to dress according to religious rules, were among the least likely to express sympathy for the use of violence in various scenarios. This survey, however, focused primarily on evaluating the sympathy of respondents to violent extremism and only secondarily on correlating that sympathy with other variables related to women’s empowerment.
More...
This study analyzes how the ongoing Syrian Crisis has affected Turkey’s security. It starts with an overview of recent developments in the Middle East in general and in Syria specifically. It then examines the political, military, social, and economic effects of the Syrian Crisis for Turkey’s security. It concludes that the Syrian Crisis represents Turkey’s most challenging security problem since the end of the Second World War as it has had many profound impacts on the country.
More...
In this paper, based on the previously unpublished archival materials, the issues of the social status of disabled and elderly women in Siberia in the 1920—1930s (which were united under the general status of the disabled population) are examined. The main directions of the Soviet State social policy the regarding the disabled women are analyzed: pensions, social assistance, employment policy, social welfare in shelters for disabled people. Specific examples, given in the text, illustrate the features of the daily life of the disabled women — both living inside and outside the institutions for people with disabilities. The state social policy towards the disabled women in the 1920—1930s is characterized by the extreme ambivalence. The measures of social support for replenishment were taken, but it was accessible to a narrow circle of people. The only area of real interaction between the society and women with disabilities was the sphere of employment, where they were actively included, as the proletarian state needed workers within the context of industrialization. During the conduct of social policy, the Soviet authorities did not divide disabled and elderly people on a gender basis, but the disabled women during the 1920—1930s remained one of the most socially vulnerable groups of the population. At the same time, the state made non-systemic attempts to integrate women with disabilities into society on the basis of measures of vocational rehabilitation.
More...
The publication presents an archival document of the funds of the Russian archive of socio-political history (RGASPI). The document is a report prepared by the editor-in-chief of the journal «Technology — to the youth» for the Komsomol Central Committee. The report summarizes the results of the survey of Clubs of fans of science fiction (CFSF), which the journal conducted in 1982—1983. The document describes the social and age structure of the CFSF, tasks, problems that they experience in their activities. The comments give a description of the document, its attribution. The circumstances of the creation of the report are analyzed. Ideological and political conditions are described; assumptions on authorship of the document are expressed. An attempt is also made to determine the source knowledge of the published report. Three problems are identified, in the study of which this document can be useful to researchers. First, it is the degree of independence of the CFSF from the authorities; second, it is an assessment of the organizational unity of the Soviet fan movement; third, the importance that the Soviet ideological leadership attached to science fiction. The comments also describe the events that followed the creation of this document. We are talking about repressive campaigns against the journal «Technology — to the youth» and against the clubs of science fiction fans, which occurred in 1984. And although the connection of these events with the published document is more than indirect, all these events are within the framework of ideological control over science fiction. The detailed notes explain the terms, abbreviations, proper names mentioned in the report.
More...
The article examines: the essence of the women’s issue in Russia — discrimination against women in the political, economic, social, cultural and family spheres — and the reasons for its aggravation in the late XIX and early XX centuries; notions of “emancipation”, “suffragism” and “feminism”; the position of liberal and Marxist intelligentsia on the causes of the women’s issue and how to solve it; main areas and areas of activity of the main women’s organizations and parties (Russian Women’s Mutual-Charitable Society, Women’s Progressive Party, Women’s Equality Union, Women’s Political Club, etc.) and the women’s movement as a whole: the struggle for civil and political rights, such as voting rights, women’s struggle for education and access to vocational work, charity; causes of the mass female movement in 1907. The government’s policy on the women’s issue is analyzed. The author applied the following research methods: analysis and synthesis of facts (first — division into elements, study of their origin and development; then — understanding of interrelations and interdependencies of facts); induction (from particular to general) and deduction (from general to specific); comparative analysis (the comparison of individual phenomena and processes, to detect their similarities and differences). The conclusion is made about the role of representatives of the liberal and Marxist intelligentsia (A. P. Filosofova, M. I. Pokrovskaya, N. V. Stasova, M. V. Trubnikova, S. А. Turbert, A. M. Kollontay) in the organization and development of the women’s movement in Russia in the late XIX — early XX centuries, as well as the role of the women's movement in the implementation of democratic reforms.
More...
This article describes the evacuation of civilians from Leningrad and the Leningrad region to Bashkiria during the Great Patriotic War, with special focus on children’s institutions that arrived in the republic. Documentary materials reveal what measures were taken and how assistance was rendered by local authorities and population: provision of living quarters, distribution of clothes, shoes, food, support for health, employment, etc. This indicates difficulties encountered and unresolved issues. These materials also show the positive and negative sides of the temporary stay in the republic of Leningrad, in the context of emergency wartime conditions. In general, their reception and accommodation, the provision of necessary social assistance, solutions to pressing issues of employment, enrolling children in preschools and schools, providing medical assistance, etc., all took place under favorable conditions. However, there were negative cases in dealing with housing issues, employment for evacuees, allocating of food, providing health care, especially for children and children’s institutions, and even more so for orphans. Thanks to this large-scale unprecedented operation, millions of Soviet citizens, agencies, institutions, and industrial enterprises saved the lives of citizens, and everything was done for the successful conclusion of the war.
More...
The article explores Chinese migrants in the Southern Urals in the 1920s. At this historical stage, Chinese migration to the USSR was not regulated by requests of factories and coal mines for cheap labor, as was the case in tsarist Russia. Chinese migrants came to the Soviet Union to earn money, engage in trade in part in the social and cooperative movement, and study at Soviet universities. Prerequisites for the emergence of a stable Chinese community, including in southern regions of the Urals, were born. However, the complication of relations between the USSR and China and conflict over the CER in 1929 worsened the situation of the Soviet Chinese and led to a reduction of further migration. For several decades, the formation and development of the Chinese diaspora was stopped. Based on archival documents first identified and put into circulation, the approximate sociocultural appearance of the Chinese in the South Urals is reconstructed. These materials make it possible to get an idea of such important characteristics as: total number, distribution in urban and rural areas, gender, age, place of birth, migration, marital status, occupation, change of residence and work, military service, level of education, and participation in public life. The article describes a number of details in the biography of the Chinese in the Southern Urals and shows features of migration waves of the late imperial and early Soviet periods of Russian history.
More...