Avangarda i politika
Istočno evropska paradigma i rat na Balkanu
One always searches for some symbolic point from which one can claim that something ended and something else began, even though there are no beginnings and no endings.
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Istočno evropska paradigma i rat na Balkanu
One always searches for some symbolic point from which one can claim that something ended and something else began, even though there are no beginnings and no endings.
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This book offers an analysis of transitional justice - retribution and reparation after a change of political regime - from Athens in the fifth century BC to the present
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The objective of this paper is to analyze the impact of the COVID–19 pandemic on populisms – both ruling and in opposition - and thus its impact on the stability of liberal democracy. Against the backdrop of the various policies implemented by different populist regimes and the different reactions of the opposition, we conclude that the pandemic, despite its negative impact on democracy in general, has some positive consequences in destabilizing populism, and that it is not going to bring about the mass emergence of populist democracies.
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The Covid-19 pandemic posed many challenges to the functioning of societies in general and to the socio-political process in particular. States are taking various measures to limit the spread of Covid-19, with some choosing restrictive approaches. The latter are mostly related to restricting the free movement of citizens and mass events. In this sense, the organization of national and/or local elections in some countries is becoming a challenge. Contemporary representative democracies are based on the ability of citizens to form governing bodies through voting, with the relevant bodies having a limited mandate. The inability to hold elections in some countries raises important issues related to the extension of the mandate of the elected body, as well as the introduction of new election practices. Since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, a number of reports by reputable organizations have been published, focusing on the study of elections and the electoral process. These studies also consider the possibility of remote voting.
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After the so-called gentle revolutions in former socialist countries creates the deceptive impression that most of the risks to world and in particular to Bulgarian socio-economic development no longer exist. For example, the economic prospects for economic decline will no longer exist, as the transition from a planned to a market economy takes place. There will be no political risks, as the winner of the Cold War is considered a democratic world. Accordingly, democracy will guarantee harmonious political relations within the country, and NATO and the United States will ensure the security of our country, the wound of the “Renaissance process” will be eliminated, ext. All this collapsed and the three topics discussed in the report show it clearly.
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The trade dispute between the United States and China began on 6th July 2018, when higher tariff rates for imports of high-tech products from China came into force. The official reason for the new US customs policy is the deficit with China in trade in goods – which for the period 2001 – 2017 increased from $83.1 billion to $375.2 billion. Indeed, a deficit of this magnitude is a serious economic issue. Still, the circumstances determining China’s growing influence in world politics suggest a leading role in the political motives for starting the dispute. If China had a predominantly regional weight in the 80’s and 90’s of the twentieth century, today, the country is the main political and economic competitor of the United States worldwide. In this regard, US action appears to be an element of China’s containment policy rather than a desire to restore trade balance.
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This report is based on the concept of connected governance, which aims to improve cooperation between public services, deepen consultation and citizen participation in this process. This idea transforms the understanding of the relationship between government, business and citizens. All this is related to the importance of monitoring the effectiveness of public administration and policy. for feedback. The concept became apparent to post–communist countries during the economic crisis. Recent trends in administrative reform in Bulgaria and the development of e–government provide evidence of the use of related government mechanisms. They focus on the ideas of the rule of law and rational bureaucracy, the economic approach to property management and the principle of evaluating administrative results, as well as the importance of the quality and efficiency of public services.
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The present study aims at tracing the correlation between the foreign direct investments (FDI) and the key interest rates (KIR) in the context of the democratization process in the Western Balkans. Bivariate Pearson correlation was used to track whether: (1) there is a statistically significant linear relationship between three continuous random variables – foreign direct investment, key interest rate and democratic rating; (2) the strength of the linear relationship between these variables; and (3) the direction of this relationship. The study included the countries of the Republic of Albania, the Re public of Serbia, the Republic of Northern Macedonia, the Republic of Montenegro and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. A 10–year period is covered, namely between 2010 and 2019. After the analysis, it was found that the democratization processes in the countries included in the study do not affect their economic growth.
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The article discusses some theoretical positions on the scope, nature and procedure of institutionalization. They address the issue of the symbolic interaction of the various institutes. From such starting points, Berger and Luckmann deduce the understanding that the integrativeness of meanings is implemented emphatically subjectively. The problematization of the process is sought in the mechanism of internalization of socially accepted meanings by the individual. The objective meaning of the institutional order is given, well–known and understandable to the individual. The existence of unity between institutional actions and meanings within each individual biography is assumed and the entire available stock of knowledge is updated. The dependence institutional model – institutional meanings is validated. The authors fix the cognitive problematizations in the process of institutional segmentation in the provision of integrative meanings and in the legitimacy of the institutional activity and in the presence of isolated semantic subverses in the society. The emphasis is on the legitimizing affirmation of the semantic universes.
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The current work is dedicated to the topic: „(i)legitimacy of representative democracy – the dissatisfied majorities“. It aims to discover that the representation (the political power) is not representative enough, but reasoning efficiency, it minimizes the value system of the society to acceptable symbol models. This process, connected to requirement for loyalty from the society, is facilitated by generalization of values and control system’s enforcement. Last two lead to social tensions. The theoretical frame encompasses the general systems and political risk theories. Based on that, conclusions are presented in two ways: comparative table „values – symbols“ and formula of social tensions, used further as an evidence for the above hypothesis. Milestone of the writing is the statement that the political risk, produced by political decisions, affects not only the business and its investments and projects, but also and mainly the social tensions.
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In the report we are going to present the activities of the „Elhovka“ Women’s Society – Elhovo, based on some documents of f. 66 K, preserved in the State Archives – Yambol. Our aim is to examine the organizational life and the charitable work of the charity society after 9th September 1944, when the society turned into a state organization serving the new government’s interests. The actuality of the article is determined by the lack of any extensive research on the deeds of the „Elhovka“ Women’s Society in this period.
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Maritime friction among powers, great and small, has escalated in the “Near Seas” region, including East China, Yellow, and South China Seas, largely because China has militarized that region by constructing artificial islands, and then fortifying them. United States warships repeatedly have conducted “Freedom of Navigation Operations” (FOPs) in the region, as have British, Indian, and Japanese warships, with France joining that list in early 2021 also. At the same time, China’s “Belt and Road Initiative” streams economically across Eurasia, with rising debt. This paper will address the objectives of China, the West, and neighbouring Asian countries in terms of increasing, decreasing, or replacing tensions in the region, as “empires” old, new, reincarnated and imaginary converge to participate in this fray. Inevitably, risk prevails, opportunities do also, as once-proud empires such as Britain, France, Russia, and Japan join in to confound if not deter China in its transparent effort as a rising power to control shipping and land transportation in this strategic but fragile corridor that connects Europe and the Middle East with Asia, vital to transporting raw materials, particularly energy, Eastward, and finished products, especially electronics and solar panels, Westward. Crucial issues emerging at a critical time require immediate but careful rethinking of Asia in world politics. Although a pandemic has altered and delayed the course of trade in 2020 and 2021, this may be both blessing and curse, a blessing in the sense that emerging power houses in Asia as well as Oceana have endeavoured to commitmore resources toward augmenting the traditional Western powers, motivating them to become stronger Allies of the West. On the other hand, a curse, to the extent the opportunity for conflict increases as it has unfolded in Afghanistan over the summer of 2021. Perhaps this will inspire a rapprochement with China and instil in China a realistic expectation of achieving economic growth in moderation over a gradual time in contrast to a growth spurt in the short term that would lead to conflict and set China back much as Japanese aggression before 1945 led to warfare ending in Japan’s defeat and Allied victory. A desired outcome such as this may be unlikely, however, given China’s reported inroads into Afghanistan, rising threats to Taiwan.
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The end of World War II in 1945 marked the beginning of the Cold War era in international relations which further led to dramatic changes in the conduct of international affairs and the designation and definition of interstate engagements, including security arrangements. One of the most important security issues of this period was the arms race between the United States of America (USA) and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). This race was further complicated and escalated by the strong ambitions of the two superpowers to take it to the outer space where they made bold claims. The launch of Sputnik-1 into space by the USSR in 1957 was particularly regarded as a turning point in space studies and rivalry.
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Although space is a huge and unknown area when evaluated in terms of the world, world states and some non-state actors have made space accessible and visible to the society. In this respect, space has actually become a subject of world geopolitics. The purpose of writing this article is to examine whether the transition from international society to eternal peace will be possible with a space policy that can be built in the future. The article is written in three parts and a conclusion. First part is the importance of space, cooperation and competition between the actors, second part is space law and peaceful usage of the space, the last part is the possibility of international society in the space.
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When the notion of “civil society” appears in everyday discussions, positive images usually arise in people’s minds, like charities, community initiatives, informal networks, or formal Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) defending the rights of peoples, providing services, or working for peace in conflict areas all over the world. Although the cases of misuse of funds or even corruption have been growing commensurately with the number of NGOs worldwide, these are usually considered an anomaly, dark exceptions in a field where “doing good” is—or at least should be—the main purpose of action. Such a positive image of civil society has its roots in the thinking and writings of traditional liberal political thinkers like the Frenchman Alexis de Tocqueville or contemporary American political scientist Robert D. Putnam, thinkers who see civil society as a bastion of democracy. According to them, civil society is rooted in the kindness and unmediated collaboration between laypeople, standing in contrast to centre-stage politics where conflicts of interest and manipulation are the main drivers for action.
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In the late 1990s Greece undertook a significant reform initiative vis-à-vis Turkey, the neighboring state which has been considered as Greece’s major security threat since the mid- ‘70s. Greece’s reform initiative –which attempted to alter the very logic of Greek-Turkish relations—reached its institutional climax at the Helsinki ΕU Summit of December 1999, when Turkey was granted candidate status after Greece’s decision to lift its long-lasting veto. Was this paramount foreign policy shift the result of a rational recognition of Greece’s new strategic needs and priorities, of a more in-depth ideational change related to a collapse of the traditional – and reigning – orthodoxy about how to deal with the ‘threat from the east’, and of the effects of the force of Europeanization on foreign policy formation, or of a combination of all the above?
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One could argue that the Greek-Turkish relations have been through enough trouble within the last one hundred years and that there has been a diversity of issues that have plagued their relations, involving -among others- sovereignty, minority, jurisdiction, security and religion issues. Nationalism has fuelled several of them, but in recent years energy politics has been a major factor of friction, especially after other countries in the east Mediterranean Sea, like Egypt, Israel and Cyprus, have discovered significant natural gas reserves in their respective Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs). However, it is not unlikely that such relations, which have been turbulent for long periods of time, where most of the bilateral issues have never, essentially, been addressed by the two states, will be vulnerable to new challenges, as time goes on and the economic, social and political context within both countries, but also in the wider area of the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, is constantly changing. In the absence of mutual understanding and tolerance, and at times of tension, any issue could be perceived as a potential threat from the other side, and an escalation to a crisis could be imminent. Migration and the refugee issue form one of these current challenges that have been affecting Greek-Turkish relations.
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Muslims in Greece and non-Muslims in Turkey have historically found themselves in an ambivalent, mirrored status of legal protection, one which has often been undermined for political and ideological reasons. Their religious, educational, and other institutions have been subject to distinct legal norms based on a communal perception resembling the autonomy that the Ottoman Empire had reserved for the non-Muslim millets. The pre-modern Ottoman millet divisions partly found their final expression in the formation of the nation-states of the Balkans during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The Christian states that seceded from the Ottoman Empire (Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, and Serbia) borrowed from the millet system to lay out the institutional and legal framework of Muslim communities that remained within their borders. This model prevailed in Turkey also, and was used to govern the same non-Muslim minorities that the empire had recognized as millets – namely, Greek-Orthodox (Rum Ortodoks/Romioi), Armenians, and Jews. In Greece and Turkey, the notion of citizenship was strongly influenced by a post-Ottoman perception of ethnicity and turned into a theory of racial belonging (and non-belonging) continuity of both nations based on the ‘Greek genos’ and the ‘Turkish ırk’.
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Greek – Turkish relations, like all concepts in life, do not really exist. They are discourses and constructions formed by individuals and institutions and shaped in the realm of their social relations. Examined critically the Greek – Turkish relations discourse reveals a set of foundational assumptions: There are two groups, or more specifically two nations, i.e., Turks and Greeks. These two nations establish the two sides of a complex set of historical, political, cultural and economic relations that have been mostly, but not exclusively contentious. Some also recognise that on the actor side, there is more diversity than this simple dichotomy would suggest: Greece has experienced long-term Albanian immigration and, more recently, immigration from the Middle East and South Asia. In Turkey, Kurds are the largest non-Turkish community, and, since the mid-2010s Syrian war refugees and immigrants have become a sizeable group by far outnumbering most other minority groups. This destabilization of the dominant founding ethnic groups of Greece and Turkey is reshaping both the relevance and the categories of Greek – Turkish relations as well as the importance of the spaces of encounter which this entry examines. For now, however, the primacy of the nation state continues to structure the field.
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Bilateral relations in the Aegean Sea basin are the product of a rather complicated mixture of components, involving history, politics, national identities, populist narratives, irredentism, nationalism and regional factors, and as such, finding balance has been notoriously elusive. For the better part of their co-existence, Greece and Turkey have been bouncing from escalation to détente; a sequence that seems to have adopted an accelerating frequency in the post-Cold War period. From the Lausanne Treaty and the Convention Concerning the Exchange of Greek and Turkish Populations until the new round of earthquake diplomacy in the aftermath of the 6 February 2023 tragedy in central and southern Turkey, lay one hundred years of turbulent relations between two peoples that share much more than borders, but remain divided over national identities and politics.
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