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Looking back into the closed period of the past could be rewarding and important for future decisions. Obviously, the decisions cannot be taken back but their outcomes may be, and often are, relevant in the following years. When it comes to finances and their division among programmes and projects, it is always interesting to assess the priorities and budgets after a certain distance in time to understand the processes and channels they passed through. The EU membership has opened a lot of new challenges for each of the accession countries. During the accession process, the countries had the possibility to finance institutional building or infrastructure development from the EU pre-accession instruments. After entering the EU, pre-accession instruments were replaced by Structural Funds. Economic impacts of the projects financed by all available instruments were relatively well documented and monitored. The projects had significant positive and negative social impact at national and regional level. Because of existing gender roles and stereotypes, the social “impacts” were not distributed equally between women and men. Moreover, the missing gender dimension on the project level helped conservation and strengthening of gender roles. That is briefly the first intent why the joint Czech and Slovak project was initiated in mid-2004. It focuses on analyses of programming documents, and a selected number of foundations re-granting European funds to local projects in both countries. In our analyses, we tried to follow the whole link from adoption of the EU directive, through preparation of national guidelines, to approved projects at national and regional level. [...]
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Anonymous users stole the show this quarter. Never before have we observed such high levels of activity from anonymous accounts. At the same time, bot activity in Russian-language conversations about NATO activity in the Baltics and Poland has emerged from its winter slumber. In the wake of the Skripal poisonings in the UK in March, Russian-language bot and anonymous activity about NATO more than doubled. Mentions of NATO on VK, in contrast, have been stable and declining during the whole period. Social media companies are working to end platform misuse. But malicious activity is evolving. Today, anonymous accounts are dominating the conversation. These accounts are either operated manually, or they have become advanced enough to fool human observers. The responses from open and free societies to the problem of online malicious activity have neither been strong enough, nor consistent enough. Figures presented in this issue reveal a disparity between the conversation quality in English and Russian-language spaces. Currently, the Russian-language conversation about NATO in the Baltics and Poland has six times the proportion of content from bot and anonymous accounts. As Twitter has taken steps to remove bots, the disparity has only widened. We assess that 93% of Russian-language accounts in our dataset are operated anonymously or automatically. In no way does this conversation mirror opinions of citizens. Journalists, policy makers, and advertisers take note!
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President Trump’s whirlwind tour of Europe in July provoked ferocious discussion about NATO on social media. Anonymous human-controlled English-language accounts, expressing positions in support of or in opposition to the US President, dominated online conversations. Compared to the levels observed in the Spring issue of Robotrolling, the volume of English-language messages has more than doubled. The increasing proportion of anonymous accounts active during key political moments indicate that anonymity is being abused to cloak manipulation on social networks. We call on social media companies to keep investing in countering platform misuse. The social media companies Reddit and Twitter have released lists of accounts identified as originating from the notorious St Petersburg ‘troll factory’—the Internet Research Agency (IRA). In this issue, we present the first quantitative analysis comparing English- and Russian-language posts from these accounts. The IRA bombarded citizens in Russia and its neighboring states with pro-Kremlin propaganda. For English, fake accounts posed as Trump supporters, and argued both sides of the Black Lives Matter controversy. Russian-language material closely echoed and amplified the narratives popularized by Russian state-media. Amongst the accounts identified by Twitter, 26 also posted about NATO in the Baltics and Poland. Our algorithm correctly identified 24 of these as bot accounts. The other two accounts were anonymous human-controlled (troll) accounts.
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This report has been prepared by independent Hungarian intellectuals who wish to inform the Hungarian and international public as well as European institutions about the severe harm that the Orbán regime governing Hungary since 2010 has caused in the fields of education, science, culture, and the media. The reason for preparing the present report is that the acts of the successive Orbán governments consistently run counter to and consciously violate the fundamental principles, values, and norms of the European Union, not only as regards the rule of law and political and social rights, but also in the case of the cultural areas discussed here. In Hungary, important European values are being jeopardised, including cultural diversity, scientific and artistic autonomy, the respect for human dignity, access to education and culture, conditions for social mobility, the integration of disadvantaged social groups, the protection of cultural heritage, and the right to balanced information, as well as democratic norms like ensuring social dialogue, transparency and subsidiarity. By presenting the activities of the Orbán regime in the fields of culture, education, research, and the media, we provide information about areas little known to the international public. With our report, we wish to draw attention to the fact that an autocratic system has been constructed and consolidated in Hungary with the money of EU taxpayers and with the financial and political support of EU institutions. This system creates a worrying democratic deficit and severe social problems, while it also causes irreparable harm in the fields of education, science, and culture. The authors of the report are leading researchers, lecturers, and acknowledged experts, including several academicians, professors, heads of departments, and a former Minister of Culture. The undertaking was initiated and coordinated by the Hungarian Network of Academics
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This report has been prepared by independent Hungarian intellectuals who wish to inform the Hungarian and international public as well as European institutions about the severe harm that the Orbán regime governing Hungary since 2010 has caused in the fields of education, science, culture, and the media. The reason for preparing the present report is that the acts of the successive Orbán governments consistently run counter to and consciously violate the fundamental principles, values, and norms of the European Union, not only as regards the rule of law and political and social rights, but also in the case of the cultural areas discussed here. In Hungary, important European values are being jeopardised, including cultural diversity, scientific and artistic autonomy, the respect for human dignity, access to education and culture, conditions for social mobility, the integration of disadvantaged social groups, the protection of cultural heritage, and the right to balanced information, as well as democratic norms like ensuring social dialogue, transparency and subsidiarity. By presenting the activities of the Orbán regime in the fields of culture, education, research, and the media, we provide information about areas little known to the international public. With our report, we wish to draw attention to the fact that an autocratic system has been constructed and consolidated in Hungary with the money of EU taxpayers and with the financial and political support of EU institutions. This system creates a worrying democratic deficit and severe social problems, while it also causes irreparable harm in the fields of education, science, and culture. The authors of the report are leading researchers, lecturers, and acknowledged experts, including several academicians, professors, heads of departments, and a former Minister of Culture. The undertaking was initiated and coordinated by the Hungarian Network of Academics
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Extract from the study:In order to explain the diplomatic complexity made simple and legally elegant in the form of the agreement of Prespa/Prespes, i.e., the document settling the decades long “name dispute” between (now) North Macedonia and Greece, one has to look at the multiple and sensitive identity related stakes involved in the solution. The Agreement was signed in June 2018, by the Syriza led government of Greece and the Social-Democratic ruling coalition of what was then the Republic of Macedonia. In spite of the decades long mantra of the so-called international community, including the UN, EU and NATO, that the dispute and its solution would not affect any questions concerning the identity of the ethnic majorities of either of the nations, as they are non-negotiable rights to self-determination, it has always been clear that the dispute existed because of Greece’s concerns over its cultural and historical heritage being appropriated. It was an unequivocally declared position on the part of the Greek government displayed on the website of the Hellenic Ministry of Foreign Affairs prior to the signing of the agreement (titled “FYROM Name Issue”). Macedonia – after the agreement renamed “Republic of North Macedonia” – had been worried, at least a sizable part of its public, that its national identity would be effaced through the name change. Thus, the embarrassing truth was not to be avowed, at least not by the respectable leadership of the developed world. However, the truth about identity concerns was intimated through the fact that the longest serving UN envoy, assigned with the task of solving the issue, Matthew Nimetz, habitually proposed not only a new name for the state (of the “Republic of Macedonia”, its constitutional name until 12 February 2019), but also solutions to the adjectives that concerned the nationality and the language. The adjectives were to be derived either from the name of the state or to be avoided entirely, something along the lines of “citizen of….” or “the official language of…” followed by the possible new name of the country. The novelty of the solution stems from the fact that both countries and their leaders decided to acknowledge, instead of disavow, the fact that the stakes were identitary: Greece was worried that its Hellenic heritage is being appropriated by the “Macedonian” identity of its northern neighbors, whereas the Macedonian public and its politicians were worried that the identity “Macedonian,” in its contemporary sense, would cease to exist. These not easily solved concerns were tackled in a nuanced fashion by both parties, resulting in the Prespa Agreement. Let us take a look at a several years old study conveying the identity perception of the Macedonians in 2013, and how it may have been affected by the Agreement.
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This handbook was created within the framework of the GREASE consortium which focuses on examining the relationship between radicalisation, secularism and the governance of religion. The main objective of the handbook is to outline good practices on resilience-building against violent religious radicalisation. It accomplishes this goal by combining practices from twelve in-depth case studies on violent religious radicalisation in countries in “the West” (Australia, Belgium, France, Germany, the UK), the MENA region (Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia), South and Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Malaysia) and countries with history of ethno-nationalist separatist struggles (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Russia). Based on shared practices, themes and commonalities across this range of country cases, the handbook outlines a common set of good practices. It illustrates these good practices though real examples from the country studies while it recognises that there is “no panacea to violent religiously-inspired radicalisation.” Although the handbook does not make claims that the good practices it identifies are the solution to violent religious radicalisation, such practices can provide valuable practical guidance and orientation to relevant stakeholders in designing resilience efforts. CSD contributed to the content of the handbook through results from the case study it conducted on good practices in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
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Media and online representations play a formative role in establishing public attitudes as their responsibility far exceeds informative functions and enters the domain of reasserting norms of morality and exclusivity. This aspect of the public domain’s ability to influence group dynamics and everyday realities has the potential to severely affect vulnerable populations by further exacerbating their marginality with regard to political and socio-economic debates. Social media have provided an escape from the dominant information and media channels by allowing a non-linear and more selective content consumption. However, the relative freedom and agency allowed by non-traditional media channels, such as Facebook and YouTube, have paved the way for the spread of disinformation and fake news, which have become more accessible and prominent in the everyday lives of a vulnerable and excluded group in Bulgaria – the Roma community. The report “Media and online narratives, fake news and disinformation trends in relation to Roma in Bulgaria" investigates the hostile relationship between online media channels and the Roma community through the prism of disinformation and fake news. The study reports on results from data obtained through online media analysis and focus group data with Roma activists, leaders, mediators, and youth. The report approaches the issue of media hostility against the Roma community in a twofold manner. On the one hand, it discusses the persisting anti-Roma stereotypes, myths, and prejudicial images which permeate the public domain through new and adaptive online practices for asserting negative narratives and attitudes. On the other hand, the report analyses the effects of media hostility, fake news, and disinformation campaigns on members of the Roma community whose susceptibility to fraudulent information and inter-group stereotypes has been strongly influenced by social media and anti-integration attitudes.
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The European Parliament's resolution on the rule of law and fundamental rights in Bulgaria (adopted on 8 October 2020) has raised awareness of the impact of European-level policies and initiatives on domestic politics as well as of the role played by Bulgaria's representatives to EU institutions. The Center for the Study of Democracy contributes to the understanding of these developments through an analysis of the Bulgarian MEPs' voting patterns in relation to resolutions debated and adopted in the European Parliament with respect to the practices of authoritarian regimes, primarily Russia and China. The key conclusions point to the fact that Bulgaria's European representatives vote in ways that consistently reflect the views of their respective national parties, while being much less critically-oriented towards Moscow and Beijing than their European parliamentary groups. These results show that the potential for Europeanization remains limited as nationally partisan views and interests continue to prevail over common European principles and action.
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On the 31st anniversary of the beginning of the democratic transition in Bulgaria, the Bulgarians' attitudes towards democracy remain equivocal. In this analysis, based on a special poll carried out by GLOBSEC, Slovakia, CSD highlights the key dimensions of the Bulgarian population's attitudes towards the preferred form of governance, justice, traditional values and trust in the media. One of the key findings is that democratic norms and principles continue to be unconsolidated within Bulgarian society as a greater proportion of Bulgarians favor a 'strongman' model of leadership, unobstructed by elections or parliament, over а liberal democratic system. These results suggest that Bulgaria needs to put special efforts in order to shore off authoritarian tendencies and nurture democratic traditions.
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The present publication outlines a monitoring methodology related to the phenomena of domestic violence and gender-based violence in Bulgaria, which is currently being developed by the Center for the Study of Democracy, in cooperation with practitioner organizations from Bulgaria and Norway. The instrument will be utilized to conduct national monitoring and assessment of the effectiveness, appropriateness, scope, and reach of Bulgarian law, policies, and institutional practices countering these types of violence. The pilot implementation of the methodology is planned for 2021. The results of the piloting and the feedback received from key stakeholders in Bulgaria will be considered when designing the final version of the methodology.
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According to Article 47 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, victims of crime should be recognized as the persons wronged by the offender, protected against repeat victimization, granted access to justice and enabled to participate in criminal proceedings. This publication presents a collection of best/promising practices to support victims in Bulgaria, Finland, Germany, Romania and Spain. Certain practices refer to all victims of crime, while others relate to certain types of victims. The practices were collected for the whole spectrum of the criminal proceedings: investigation, prosecution, court. Information on the practices was obtained through desktop research (analyze of legislation, jurisprudence, strategies and programmes), questions addressed to institutions and organizations that have competences in the justice system, in the protection of victims' rights (ministries, courts, prosecutors’ offices, governmental agencies, law enforcement agencies, NGOs etc.)
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This compendium was created by the consortium members of the CEE Prevent Net initiative. Its development is the result of a robust exchange of good practice methods among various organizations and civil society actors in the areas of youth work and (non-formal) education aimed at preventing intolerance, discrimination, and right-wing populism and extremism in the region of Central and Eastern Europe. Initially, this volume was supposed to present 10 good practices for working with young people directly; however, the CEE Prevent Net network decided to expand this initial enterprise gratuitously. This additional section provides youth workers, educators, and other civic actors with recommendations and advocacy strategies for youth work that fosters tolerance, facilitates dialogue, and prevents discrimination and far right ideologies.
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The report 'Current practices in the national criminal justice system in relation to victims of crimes' was written as part of the initiative Towards a More Responsive Victim-Centered Approach of the Criminal Justice System (RE-JUST) through desk research and information requests to relevant institutions and organisations. It is also based on CSD's long-term monitoring and studies of the situation of victims of crime in the country and provides a general overview of the approaches and methods used by police, prosecutors, judges, in cases that involve victims of crimes as witnesses or in other procedural capacities. Main obstacles to victims' access to justice have been pointed out, as well as points of non-compliance with European and global standards.
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