Around the Bloc: OSCE Monitors Come Under Fire in East Ukraine
The incident comes nine days after monitors were held at gunpoint by rebel forces, and follows a fresh attempt at a lasting ceasefire.
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The incident comes nine days after monitors were held at gunpoint by rebel forces, and follows a fresh attempt at a lasting ceasefire.
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The political and economic problems and challenges faced by the Third Bulgarian State have been going on for 140 years. Such is the problem of the political rupture that has gripped Bulgaria in the years before and immediately after World War II. Its genesis, development and influence on our time deserve an in-depth political analysis. The article clarifies the notion of "political rupture", the typology of the phenomenon is proposed and special attention is paid to the contradictions it generates in Bulgarian conditions
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Transitions Online_Around the Bloc-24 FebruaryIn the news: Serbia buys Russian weapons; Slovaks commemorate death of journalist; migrants in North Macedonia; Hollywood on the Danube; and a Transdniestrian oligarch.
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The article presents e-actions undertaken by the Social Security Institution (Zakład Ubezpieczeń Społecznych, ZUS) — a state-owned institution that accomplishes tasks determined by the law. The aim of this study is to present current e-services offered by ZUS as well as to analyse the influence of the aforementioned services on the image of this institution, which lays great emphasis in its vision and mission statement on customer care and also building trust in this institution. Actions taken by ZUS permit a claim that ZUS is prepared to support customers remotely. The institution responds to signals sent from society and addresses customers’ needs by implementing modern communication techniques as well as by educating and popularizing knowledge of social insurance. Critical analyses and results of the statistical research made available by the ZUS Customer Service Department were used in the writing of this article.
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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.
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These remarks are intended as to recall testimonies of the contact of people of the West with art called primordial or primitive in its natural cultural environment. The goal is here also to “refresh” thinking about art, as well as to look at the ways of recognition of primor- dial art at the turn of the twentieth century, the representation of which are the classic texts by the field researchers referred to in the title of these remarks. The selection of the texts is not accidental here, because they are connected primarily by the thread of the art of Indig- enous communities of North America.
More...Nancy Hawker, London, Routledge, 2019. ISBN 978-1-38-56331-5 (Pages: xi+192)
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The enormous changes and constant developments in theapplications of technology and communication have changed the waythe world is perceived. The information revolution has impacted intelligencegathering, processing, analysis and dissemination, as well ashow decision-makers can access reliable information in a timely manner,and the sources they are likely to rely on when concrete information is needed to make decisions. This article attempts to describe, analyze andexplain the nature of the ongoing information revolution, its main impacton intelligence and security policy, and the importance of intelligenceanalysis in the context of peacekeeping operations.
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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.
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This study aims to analyze public policy and national security policies at European level in accordance with the impenitent norms and actions of the European Union in this respect. The analysis aims to identify the main risk factors, the estimates of their influence on public order and national security, how the Union aims to address these dangers, and some examples of some Member States. By bringing these examples, we want to identify the objectives of action and how specialised representatives perform their tasks, what resources they use, what is the rate of criminality and how much money they spend.
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The Macedonian-Greek agreement to change the name of the Republic of Macedonia resulted in a referendum. The columns of relevant opinion leaders published in electronic media during the offi cial referendum campaign was the focus of interest and research presented in this article. The sample comprised 57 columns by 19 columnists. The discussion of the findings in this paper is based on framing theory with media content analyses; the template for media monitoring was used as an instrument based on human coding. The main research question addressed in this paper is: “How are opinion leaders setting frames?” The hypothesis is that opinion leaders use different themes and scripts to construct media framing due to narrow public opinion “for” or “against/boycott” the change of the constitutional name. Two negative, emotionally charged frames were identified: the frame “for” promoted positive messages reinforced with ideas about the EU and NATO membership; the frame “against/boycott” promoted messages that Macedonian identity will be lost.
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Review of: Dwa życia Ludwika Gumplowicza. Wybór tekstów. [Die zwei Leben des Ludwik Gumplowicz. Textauswahl.] Hrsg. von Jan Surman und Gerald Mozetič . (Biblioteka Myśli Socjologicznej, Bd. 8.) Oficyna Naukowa. Warszawa 2010. 533 S. ISBN 978-83-7459-090-7. Reviewed by François Guesnet.
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Social networking sites are an increasingly important communication tool for public institutions. Local governments (municipalities—cities) create official social profiles to reach not only their residents, but also tourists and investors. They publish content of diverse nature and content. The author's research shows that this message can be categorized. Each type of content brings not only a portion of information, but some categories of posts contain elements that are designed to arouse emotions and at the same time involve users of the local government profile. Such a message may increase the scope of publication. The author presents the results of his research showing that the local government prefers content that can initiate increased emotional interaction of Facebook.com users. The case study (Warsaw official profile) is an attempt to identify those elements of the message structure (posts) that may arouse online expression in the form of „likes”, comments or „sharing”.
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The defence policy of the Republic of Bulgaria has the unique opportunity for the last 30 years to implement a comprehensive rearmament program. Despite the crises, the economy is developing confidently, with the help of European Union funds, and the security environment and critical technological backwardness allow the generation of the required public and political support. However, the ambition cannot be limited to the accomplishment of a portfolio of investment projects. Rather a new quality level of our defence capabilities should be achieved. This ambitious goal requires the development of both the necessary defence management tools and the true implementation of the concept of Defence Governance. Otherwise, we face the risk of repeating our sad experience of 2004-2010.
More...(Защо и как конфликтът между здравеопазването като социално благо и пазарния модел на неговото управление ерозира системата)
The current publication comments the fundamental problems of healthcare management, object and subject of the healthcare economy. In detail it studies the basis conflict of the market model of functioning of the health system and its effects, eroding the humanitarian nature and social dimensions of healthcare, which are limiting and discrediting basic human rights like the equal access to health services. The problems of management of the resources of healthcare are systematized and on this base are drawn the contours of a construction of their management. The argument about the mixed character of healthcare, as a realistic for the market economy in which it functions, is defended from one side like a public good and from the other side like a market service, to which should be proved the sources, scales and the direction of movement of resource flows towards the system. There is a stress on the approaches for evaluation of functioning of healthcare against the background of economic effectiveness and managerial efficiency.
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This report analyses the little-known travel essays by B.K. Zaitsev, previously published in the expat periodicals and recently published in St. Petersburg (B. Zaitsev, Glimpses of the Eternal. Unknown short stories, essays, memoirs, interviews / Comp., Entry article, subparagraph of the text and commentary by A.M. Lyubоmudrov. St. Petersburg: LLC Publishing House “Rostok”, 2018). The purpose of the analysis is to discover, in the material of travel essays by B.K. Zaitsev about France, Finland, and Italy, axiological constants characteristic of the writer’s worldview and to reveal the inherent features of geopoetics. This, for example, is the perception of modern life through the prism of religious and philosophical views, through the enduring values of world art. It is important to see that the writer was able in a small space of text to show the unique interdependence of history, the actual geographical space – the state, the city – and the national fate of peoples, which determines the ontological scale of his works.
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In September 2016 an inter-institutional agreement for staff mobility for teaching was signed between Southampton Statistical Sciences Research Institute, University of Southampton, UK and Trakia University, Bulgaria for the period 2016-2021. Assoc. Prof. Dr Borislav Dimitrov, a former colleague from Stara Zagora working at the University of Southampton and Assoc. Prof. Katya Peeva from the dept. of Social medicine and healthcare management at the Medical faculty of Trakia University were the contact persons for this contract. The aims of this Erasmus+ link are: to establish an academic partnership in medical statistics, public health and epidemiology; to observe and exchange practice in teaching and research; to teach biostatistics to young staff members and postgraduates in Trakia University.
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