Around the Bloc: Poland’s Tusk Takes Over Top EU Post, Moldova’s Pro-West Alliance Likely to Retain Power
Plus, the pope urges Turkey to open doors to Armenia, and a new Russian convoy enters eastern Ukraine.
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Plus, the pope urges Turkey to open doors to Armenia, and a new Russian convoy enters eastern Ukraine.
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Bulgaria, as an external border of the EU, together with the other Black Sea countries, has responsibilities for control and security of its maritime border. That is why is established an integrated system for observation and protection of the Black Sea border of the Republic of Bulgaria. An important element of this system is the base of border-police ships in city of Sozopol. The subject of analysis in the scientific report is its functions and tasks in the areas of responsibility.
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Our current issue aims at finding answers to the question of identities in Central Europe and the Black Sea Region (BSR) from different perspectives: national, regional, local, and social. Its purpose is twofold: on the one hand, to describe and analyze the construction, adaptation, evolution and transmission of the national/local/cultural identities in Central and Eastern Europe and the Caucasus seen as processes under Western influences but bearing local meanings and acquiring special shapes and contents, and, on the other, to see what is at stake in building an European identity and its influence on the national/regional/local/cultural identities of Central and Eastern Europe as well as the Caucasus.
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The occupation of government power by a leftist party in Greece (in January 2015) has formed a new political landscape and given rise to new political expectations after a long period of administration by the so-called system parties. The left-wing party, SYRIZA, was voted by Greek citizens as a new political force that could bring new policies, as it had the ambition to solve the country’s economic problems, bring social justice and tackle the severe humanitarian crisis caused by the recent long economic crisis. Regarding the religious field, the fixed aim of leftist parties was the separation between the State and the Church, which would lead to the full independence of the State from any religious or ecclesiastical influence, as well as the seizure of church assets by the State, the obligation for the clergy’s payroll to be covered by the Church, and similar demands regarding many other issues that shape the relationship between the State and the Church in Greece. This paper investigates especially the relationship between SYRIZA and the Church of Greece during the one-year period of the left-wing government, through the official discourse and political practices of the governing leftist party. For this purpose, the left-wing government’s political practices and stance towards the “religious issue,” as they are expressed by the party’s official press medium, the Avgi newspaper, are analyzed.
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The subject matter of this article is the analysis of the action of the Department for Religious Affairs in Krosno against the Catholic Church in the light of the constitutional principle about Church and State separation. The Constitution of the Polish People’s Republic of 22 July 1952 set forth the separation of Church and State (Art. 70, para. 2) and stipulated that the Church can freely carry out its religious functions (Art. 70, para. 1). This provision applied also to other religious associations. Under the constitutional law at that time, this freedom was understood as the freedom to proclaim doctrine, organize religious assemblies, provide ministry and teaching, establish religious orders, and maintain contacts with the believers abroad. The law was used to discriminate against the Church, which became a kind of standard. For example, legal measures, especially penal and administrative sanctions, were employed to block and restrict the construction of buildings used for religious purposes. The constitutional principle concerning Church and State separation was understood by the Department of Religious Affairs in Krosno as a total secularization of social life. For example, it was used to justify taking actions against the development of buildings used for religious purposes or against any pastoral activities undertaken by the Catholic clergy, especially concerning the youth ministry.
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The study deals with the Guidelines on the Implementation of Article 17(3) TFEU by the European Commission, published in July 2013, for setting the framework for open, transparent and regular dialogue with churches, religious associations or communities, and philosophical and non-confessional organisations. The Polish translation of the document constitutes the main part of the text. It is preceded by an overview of the decision of the European Ombudsman of 25 January 2013 in his inquiry into complaint 2097/2011/RA against the European Commission. The Ombudsman, while negatively assessing the Commission’s rejection of the proposal of the European Humanist Federation for a dialogue seminar on the topic Competing Rights Issues in Europe, suggested clarifying the Commission’s “practices and rules in this area”, and drawing up “guidelines in terms of how exactly it plans to implement Article 17 TFEU”.
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There has been an increasing attention oriented towards the institutions of financial capitalism in the recent years. This piece focuses on a specific type of scholarly perspective – that of ethnographic studies of the financial sphere – analyzing the mechanisms leading to the crisis of neoliberal capitalism. With the parallel review of three key monographs in this field – Fool’s Gold by Gillian Tett, Out of the Pits by Caitlin Zaloom and Liquidated by Karen Ho – I will show both the potentials inherent in applying anthropological methods and theories in the inquiry of „the financial”, and the possible drawback of such an analysis. All in all, the anthropological gaze oriented toward the power mechanisms and ideological work which play out in the everydayness of constituting the financial sphere could provide a more sophisticated critique of contemporary neoliberal global capitalism.
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The essay gives a critical review of The Rituals of the Media by Lajos Császi. It seeks to showhow the Durkheimian sociology of religion can be applied to the modern communicationtheory and what perspectives such a combination can store for sociology. The mediahas a significant impact on the formation of public opinion; therefore, its rituals deservea special attention. However, the opinion forming power of the media depends on thesocial structure and the movement of the masses. Today even ordinary people can broadcastInternet TV-programmes and we have not even mentioned the technical possibilitiesoffered by the various social network sites. It is not only the technical competence, whichdetermines whether a given opinion will remain embedded in a narrow subculture or itsucceeds to move the masses, which was a well-loved catchword of the 20th century
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The subject of the article is the politicalness and involvement of Polish contemporary poetry after 1989. Although the works quoted in this text were created after 2000, the systemic transformations that began in 1989 shaped — according to the author — the current poetic market in a way that determines the creativity arising within its framework. The aim of the text is to analyze the politicization of the contemporary Polish poetry on three levels, which are determined by the following questions: (1) how have political changes and the expansion of the free market in Poland influenced the style of poetry? (2) what socio-political threads appear in contemporary poetry? (3) what is the impact of politics on the publishing market in Poland and the awarding of literary prizes? The author tries to answer these questions by analyzing the content of selected poetic works, as well as the discourse taking place in the literary milieu.
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The author analyses symbolic spatial images typical for the Ukrainian folklore narratives about World War I (1914−1918), famine (1932−1933), forced deportations (1946–1947). Thus she investigates the images of landscape (forest, mountain). Special attention is paid to the objects of the closed inner space which forms the concept of home with the help of its congenial attributive characteristics (burnt empty house, evacuated burnt village, destroyed church, dug out grave). The indicated loci, on the background of the universal mythological oppositions “own” – “alien”, “here” – “there”, “old” – “new”, build up a generalized image of the character’s destroyed vital microcosm and places of his/her annihilated freedoms.
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Latin America, the development of the ongoing integration process has taken a quantitative, rather than a qualitative direction. Instead of a deepening integration organization, ten integration projects exist in a parallel way: the Andean Community of Nations, Mercosur, ALBA, UNASUR and some further organizations. On one side, it has been the controversies between United States and Hugo Chávez’s Venezuela that has multiplied the integration organizations, however, the main reasons of the wrecking of the integration process(es) have rather been of structural character. Among these, the low level of economic complementarity, the peculiarities of Latin American presidential regimes, the historical interstate political tensions, the lack of physical infrastructure and the lack of social integration are to be mentioned. The present essay has three objectives. First, it gives an historical overview of the formation of Latin American integration organizations. Second, it analyses the aforementioned structural obstacles. Third, it gives an outlook on the circumstances that may shape the future of Latin American integration.
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The paper analyzes the symbolic layers in the major commemorative ceremony in Bulgaria – the roll-call. It is divided in two parts. The first one (Bulgarian Ethnology,2018, № 1) interprets the symbolic actions comprising the basic tools for producing ceremonial meaning: saluting and rendering military honors, ritual silence and lack of action, battle cry, ceremonial mise-en-scène (monument, guards of honor, etc.)– these are recognized as specific devices for removing symbolically the border between the living and the dead, between heroes and descendants. The second part(Bulgarian Ethnology, 2018, № 2) examines the ceremonial scenario as a prospectivelyun folding narrative – each symbolic action is interpreted as a successive move in the overall plot. This approach acknowledges that the ceremony is made up of three parts: preparatory, commemorative, and triumphal, whereas the scenario as a whole embraces the following logic: listing and honoring the heroes in the commemorative part is succeeded by their posthumous enwreathing and symbolic immortalization as stars in the night sky through the use of fireworks.
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The article discusses the main indicators for perceiving Hristo Botev in the public space, by eliciting some of the debates and the attempts for appropriation of his figure. The ideas about the personality, which has in different periods been an occasion for diverse opinions and interpretations, are presented from the perspective of their significance in the culture of memory and of their role in explicating time and identity (Assmann 2001: 20). These notions diverge the figures of correlation to national parameters, but also to unrelated to the initial ideas trends, which is presented in the text with the theme about the appropriations and the popular uses of this character. Separate attention in the article is paid to the monuments dedicated to Hristo Botev in different periods and parts of the country and to the changing emphases in the commemorations to the national hero. The discussed examples outline a comprehensive presentation of different studies on the topic and raise new questions, which are important in view of future research.
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The article summarizes the factors that influence the emergence and development of American Studies in the United States and Western Europe. The author identifies key trends and themes that shape the character of the scientific discipline on both sides of the Atlantic in the second half of the 20th century, and outlines current trends and directions of its development at the beginning of the 21st century.
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The 2005 Israeli disengagement from the Gaza Strip dramatically changed the political situation of said territory. Due to the poor economic situation of its inhabitants, itself caused by years of Israeli policy of isolation, and general perception of being mistreated by the Israeli government, the power vacuum created in the wake of the withdrawal was filled by Hamas. The fundamentalists took control of the Gaza Strip in 2007, which caused the decision-makers in Tel Aviv to take radical measures to deal with the organization. A tight blockade of the Gaza Strip was introduced and while it may have curbed some of Hamas activities, it also worsened the living conditions of the inhabitants, creating a humanitarian crisis. Israeli policy has been criticized by many members of the international community. Moreover, Tel Aviv carried out several military operations, two of which (“Cast Lead” in 2008/2009 and “Protective Edge” in 2014) were characterized by significantly high numbers of civilian deaths. All of these actions, aimed at eliminating terrorists and improving Israeli citizens' security, seem to be rather short-sighted. Israeli policy only popularizes Hamas propaganda among Palestinians, therefore strengthening the organization and creating a vicious circle of misery and violence.
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The paper analyzes the symbolic layers in the major commemorative ceremony in Bulgaria – the roll-call. It is divided in two parts. The first one (Bulgarian Ethnology,2018, no. 1) interprets the symbolic actions comprising the basic tools for producing ceremonial meaning: saluting and rendering military honors, ritual silence and lack of action, battle cry, ceremonial mise-en-scène (monument, guards of honor, etc.) – these are recognized as specific devices for removing symbolically the border between the living and the dead, between heroes and descendants. The second part examines the ceremonial scenario as a prospectively unfolding narrative – each symbolic action is interpreted as a successive move in the overall plot. This approach acknowledges that the ceremony is made up of three parts: preparatory, commemorative, and triumphal,whereas the scenario as a whole embraces the following logic: listing and honoring the heroes in the commemorative part is succeeded by their posthumous enwreathing and symbolic immortalization as stars in the night sky through the use of fireworks.
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A major objective of this article is to reveal the essence of the concept of Bulgaria’s healthcare policy in the period from 1879 to 1912. It is based on a detailed study of the debates accompanying the preparation, discussion and adoption of all laws related to healthcare in post-liberation Bulgaria. Their analysis makes it possible to conclude that the formation of the basic concept of this kind of policy began already with the establishment of the first governing structures in the territories liberated by the Russian troops. At its core were the aspirations of the authorities to regulate all the necessary care that the state had to take to improve the health and to reduce the mortality among the population. It was of decisive importance for the realization of this process and for the gradual increase of the life expectancy of the population inhabiting the country.
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Despite the popular feature of Bulgaria as the most faithful satellite of the Soviet Union during the Cold War, Sofia used cleverly different mechanisms to attract Moscow’s support to ensure national security. One of them was the emphasis on the image of the most loyal Soviet ally, and in the practice of Bulgarian diplomacy one could see the subtle impact by referring to common goals with the global strategic plans of the USSR. The article highlights some of the outstanding issues on the Balkans and follows the arguments that the Bulgarian political leadership handled, as well as the acceptable compromises it was willing to make to ensure Soviet support in favor of national interests in the years of the preparation and conduct of the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe.
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