Partnerstwo w przywództwie? Stany Zjednoczone i Niemcy (1989-2016). Perspektywa polska

Author(s): Jadwiga Kiwerska / Language(s): Polish

Stany Zjednoczone i Republikę Federalną Niemiec łączą stosunki, które stanowią ważny filar zaangażowania Ameryki w Europie. Stąd ich znaczenie dla bezpieczeństwa europejskiego i porządku międzynarodowego. Od momentu zjednoczenia Niemiec wiele się zmieniło we wzajemnych relacjach. Był to zarówno efekt nowych uwarunkowań międzynarodowych, jak i skutek odzyskania przez Niemcy pełnej suwerenności oraz ich rosnących aspiracji politycznych. Silniejsze Niemcy stały się bardziej asertywne wobec oczekiwań Waszyngtonu. Dynamika wydarzeń międzynarodowych spowodowała także redefinicję amerykańskich celów i metod działania na arenie światowej, co nie pozostało bez wpływu na kształt relacji z Berlinem. O tym wszystkim mowa jest w prezentowanej książce. Analizując ewolucję stosunków amerykańsko-niemieckich w ostatnim ponad ćwierćwieczu, próbowano odpowiedzieć na pytanie, czy RFN zyskała nowe miejsce w strategii Waszyngtonu. Czy jako silniejszy podmiot postępowała odpowiedzialnie i wiarygodnie w relacjach z amerykańskim supermocarstwem? Czy z kolei USA wyciągnęły właściwe wnioski z faktu, że ich partnerem jest państwo o dużym potencjale gospodarczym i znaczącej randze politycznej? Czy potrafiły optymalnie i skutecznie współpracować z nowymi Niemcami? Biorąc pod uwagę znaczenie dla Polski dobrych relacji zarówno z Niemcami, jak Stanami Zjednoczonymi, starano się określić implikacje stanu stosunków na linii Waszyngton-Berlin dla polskich interesów. Czy udało się te cele osiągnąć, pozostawiam życzliwej ocenie czytelników.

Činjenice i tumačenja. Dva razgovora sa Latinkom Perović

Author(s): Olivera Milosavljević,Latinka Perović / Language(s): Serbian

Military Secret Part I

Author(s): Vladan Vlajković / Language(s): English

If history teaches us what life is all about, and this is true, then books are testimonies assisting history to show to the next generations where we are and why we have made mistakes instructing us not to stumble twice upon the same obstacle. "Military Secret" is a testimony which came to existence by a concurrence of peculiar circumstances and thanks to my own aspiration to expose entirely and at any cost the position and the role of the top military brass in preservation of an insane regime, alien to both the Serbs and the Montenegrins, at the beginning of the 21st century. Having been drawn into the games of big security services, dragged out of anonymity and motivated by my personal hardships and suffering, but also thanks to good people from the military and the police, I was in a position, amongst other things, owing to kindness of other people, to influence, perhaps, certain currents of history in, judging by everything, now former Yugoslavia. I am aware of the fact that the state is grateful to an individual only while it needs him/her.

Annual Report: Serbia 2008 - Human Rights, Democracy and – Violence

Author(s): / Language(s): English

The trend of institutional disintegration continued in 2008 in parallel with economic standstill, all of which negatively affected citizens’ mood. The pro-European coalition that won the spring 2008 election failed to meet their expectations as it was not politically courageous enough to make a breakthrough in fundamental reforms. In the meantime Serbia, like all other countries in the region, entered recession. The global economic crisis will only aggravate Serbia’s recession caused by domestic crisis. Eight years after Milošević’s ouster it turned out that Serbia had failed to get transformed – for, its elites have basically remained the same and it has not distanced itself from Milošević’s program. The national program has not been defeated yet: its ideology still enjoys strong support from a part of the Serb elite. This is about the elite that had inspired the Memorandum of the Serb Academy of Arts and Sciences and created the program itself. The ICTY has never examined the part academicians, the Serb Orthodox Church, the Writers’ Association, journalists and cultural elite from this circle played in the Greater Serbia project. Their role has not been morally condemned either in Serbia or beyond it. So their activity in the post-Milošević era remained the same. They are still dictating a cultural matrix and “moral” values for the society as a whole. And this is what mainly obstructs establishment of a moral vertical without which the Serbian society can hardly recuperate. In addition, territorial aspirations are still present, which is best mirrored in the case of Bosnia-Herzegovina, i.e. Republika Srpska.

Annual Report on Human Rights: Serbia in 2009 - Europeanization – Accomplishments and Limitations

Author(s): / Language(s): English

In 2009, Serbia made necessary progress in defining its future as a European country. The measures taken by the Serbian Government in that direction opened its European perspective. This inevitably provoked adverse reactions by one part of the Serbian elite, which is feverishly defending its position and insisting on the greater-state national project. This specifically refers to its resistance to NATO membership, interpretation of the recent past and defense of Bosnia’s status quo. Regardless of the opening of its European perspective, Serbia is still torn between its wish to join the European family and a strong conservative bloc trying to preserve the model of a patriarchal and populist state. The aggravating factors are a total blockade of the economy, bad privatization, monopolistic status of tycoons and incapable leaders at all levels. A drag on development is also centralism that stubbornly resists any decentralization and regionalization, which are a prerequisite for democratization and the undertaking of responsibility at all levels. Serbia’s progress toward the European perspective also implies a more resolute internal transformation, involving the status of Vojvodina, change of the Constitution, decentralization and regionalization, status of minorities and reform of the country’s media space. This is a prerequisite for breaking away from Milošević’s legacy.

Democracy at Risk. The Growth of Nationalism and Extreme Right Parties as Threat to the EU

Author(s): Ewa Rokicka,Jeremy Leaman,Dieter Eißel / Language(s): English

The book analyses the threats to democracy that are associated with the rise of extreme-right parties and xenophobia in European Union countries. The authors show that the growing distrust towards democratic institutions and the increasing strength of populism and nationalism are connected with persistent inequalities and the malign focus on immigrants as scapegoats for the misery. Case studies from Germany, Great Britain, and Poland examine the details of the anti-democratic movements in these countries. They demonstrate the real threats to democracy and peaceful coexistence, and to the very future of the European project, its principles of solidarity and its political ambitions of convergence through mutual support. The reader will find in the book extensive empirical material outlining the situation in the European Union, along with proposals for solving the region’s social, economic and political dilemmas, for reversing the trends of fragmentation and for revitalising Europe’s democratic culture.

China as a Narrative Challenge for NATO Member States

Author(s): Filip Šebok,Richard Turcsányi / Language(s): English

China is generally considered one of the greatest challenges facing NATO member states in the 21st century. Much attention has been paid to China’s decades-long meteoric economic rise which has also fueled a massive military buildup. During the 2010s, China became increasingly assertive in its geopolitical neighborhood, raising alarms in numerous capitals. In recent years, China’s growing interference in domestic affairs of countries around the world has attracted growing international attention, while Chinese technology is quickly catching up – or even leading – in key domains, such as 5G, AI, big data, surveillance, space, and others. In this paper, we delve into the area of strategic narratives, which thus far has not been at the centre of discussions about the challenges posed by China. We argue, however, that it should be placed there. As China increasingly tries to “tell its story well” to the world and seeks to amplify its discursive power, it is critical to examine what China’s story is, who is it aimed at, and how China’s narratives potentially affect its status and behaviour in the international system. Strategic narratives and visions can represent key dimensions of great power competition. Following Michel Foucault, discourse will be seen in this paper as power, and international society as an arena for discourse-power struggle. According to Miskimmon et. al., “strategic narratives can be defined as a means for political actors to construct a shared meaning of the past, present and future of international politics to shape the behavior of domestic and international actors”.

Na penězích záleží: České neziskové organizace v 21. století

Author(s): Jiří Špalek,Vladimír Hyánek,Laura Fónadová,KLÁRA Placier,Markéta Matulová,Marie Jakubcová,Marie Hladká,Tomáš Katrňák,Zuzana Prouzová / Language(s): Czech

The text of this book is framed by several major phenomena and economic processes. The main framework is represented by the nonprofit organizations economy. This field has been narrowed down to the nonprofit revenues, and to the ways these revenues are obtained. Moreover, we focused on the question how the Czech nonprofit organizations respond to the real or potential failure of particular resource stream. Our investigation covers the turbulent times of financial and economic crisis (2008-2013), as we searched for deeper understanding of the ways nonprofit organizations cope with the loss of income and change their structure when such loss occurred.

The Russian Street. The Place and Significance of Immigrants From the Former USSR in Israel

Author(s): Marek Matusiak / Language(s): English

The arrival of more than one million immigrants from the former USSR, back in the 1990s and post-2000, has resulted in a surge in Israel’s demographic and economic potential, sealed the domination of right‑wing parties on the Israeli political scene and in public discourse, left its mark on Israel’s historical policy, and finally, contributed a new language and previously unfamiliar customs to the country’s cultural mosaic.The arrival of more than one million immigrants from the former USSR back in the 1990s and post-2000 has resulted in a surge in Israel’s demographic and economic potential, sealed the domination of right-wing parties on the Israeli political scene and in public discourse, left its mark on Israel’s historical policy, and finally, contributed new elements to Israel’s cultural mosaic. Russian-speaking newcomers from the former Soviet republics have retained their language, customs and contacts with their countries of origin, and have adapted to the new reality in their own unique manner, while maintaining many elements of their former identity. Despite the fact that three decades after the break-up of the USSR, the Russian-speaking Israelis continue to be less affluent and underrepresented in many spheres of life, struggle with negative clichés and in some cases are still not fluent in Hebrew, they should be viewed as a group which has largely been well-integrated into society and (as a general rule) manifests ardent patriotism towards their new homeland. This text is an attempt to sum up the process of the Russian-speaking immigrants’ adaptation to Israeli society (and vice versa); to assess this group’s place and importance in the Israeli state’s life; to determine how it has changed the country; and finally, how it has affected Israel’s relations with the newcomers’ countries of origin.

The Ethics of Outsourcing Information Conflict: Outlining the Responsibilities of Government Funders to their Civil Society Partners

Author(s): James Pamment,Anneli Ahonen / Language(s): English

Non-governmental organisations (NGOs), researchers, journalists, and the private sector are often the main actors actively countering disinformation and influence operations. While governments maintain some counter-disinformation capabilities, they tend to outsource much of the day-to-day work through, for example, programmatic funding. It is more cost-effective and credible to fund independent, non-partisan NGOs to debunk disinformation than for a government to get caught up in trying to correct the sensitive issues that disinformation often entails. Indeed, in a recent Washington Post op-ed, former Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty President Thomas Kent lauds the role of NGOs in countering disinformation and urges governments to keep finding funding for them: “Volunteer activists fight it out with trolls online, penetrate and disrupt conspiracy chat rooms, campaign for companies to stop advertising on disinformation sites, and post memes ridiculing Russian propaganda.”1 They do all the things, in other words, that governments can’t or won’t do at scale.

Understanding Strategic Communications: NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence Terminology Working Group Publication No. 3

Author(s): / Language(s): English

When the founding treaty that would bring NATO into being in April 1949 was under-written by twelve signatory nations, the world looked a very different place. The backdrop was dire. The outlook even more so. George Kennan’s ‘Long Telegram’ in 1946 had already warned of a threat from an expansionist Soviet Union intent on exporting communism to the West and depriving millions of Europeans of their freedom. US President Harry Truman had come to the aid of those European populations—afflicted with hunger, homelessness, pestilence, and national bankruptcy. By launching an unprecedented public diplomacy policy, the Marshall Plan, freedom would be preserved through a rebuilding of economies and revival of cooperation be-tween trading nations. Barely two years before the treaty signing, at the invitation of the Austrian economist Friedrich Hayek, the Mont Pelerin Society had convened a body of august economists, philosophers, and historians committed to staving off the advance of tyranny. Their alarm was palpable: ‘over large stretches of the Earth’s surface the essential conditions of human dignity and freedom have already disappeared’. Red-baiting turned into witch-hunting in the United States as the House Un-American Activities Committee went about its business. Hot wars fought in Korea and Indo-China would eventually give way to proxy wars waged on the African continent—save for one confrontation over Cuba.

Kremlin Communication Strategy for Russian Audiences Before and After the Full-Scale Invasion of Ukraine

Author(s): / Language(s): English

Particularly since the annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the subsequent popularization of what has frequently been mischaracterized as ‘the Gerasimov doctrine’, Russia’s behaviour in the information space has often been viewed as part of its ‘grayzone’, ‘hybrid’, or ‘sub-threshold’ activities. However, the events of late February 2022 and the ensuing months have amply demonstrated that Russia’s information activities should also be viewed in the context of the country as a conventional, above-threshold threat. February 2022 may have marked the point at which Russia’s actions left the ‘grayzone’ and entered the realm of full-scale conventional warfare, but the information environment nevertheless remains a key facet of this conflict. On the Russian side, the Kremlin’s stranglehold on television media and the proliferation of Kremlin-aligned (or, at the very least, anti-Ukrainian) Telegram accounts have ensured public support for the war, which (ac-cording to polling by the Levada Center), re-mains high, at 72%—higher even than when the war first broke out, even as sanctions bite, military failures mount, and Russia’s manpower losses surpass those of all wars it has fought since the end of World War II combined. On the Ukrainian side, tropes such as the ‘Russian warship go f*ck yourself’ exchange at Snake Island have helped ensure public support among Ukraine’s allies for aiding the country’s war effort, casting Ukraine as a plucky under-dog against a larger foe which is simultaneously deadly and incompetent.

Strategic Communications and COVID-19: Exploring and Exploiting a Global Crisis

Author(s): / Language(s): English

Choose your metaphor. It was the perfect storm. It was an accident waiting to happen. Humanity on the move–the prosperous seeking leisure, the deprived migrating en masse, the desperate fleeing from war. Global supply chains so complex as to have enmeshed national economies into an international web. While the rise of Great Power politics was daily pulling the world apart. Then along came Covid.

Feldmaršal Svetozar barun Borojević od Bojne (1856.-1920.) - Zbornik radova

Author(s): / Language(s): Croatian

This proceedings contains written contributions collected from the speakers at the International Scientific Colloquium "Svetozar Borojević od Bojne (1856-1920): On the occasion of the 150th Anniversary of his Birth", held in Mečenčani on December 13, 2006. The colloquium was organized by the Croatian Institute of History, the Municipal Council of the Municipality of Donji Kukuruzari, the Society of the Brothers of the Croatian Dragon, and the Croatian State Archives.

Ustaše na Jadranu: uprava Nezavisne Države Hrvatske u jadranskoj Hrvatskoj nakon kapitulacije Kraljevine Italije

Author(s): Nikica Barić / Language(s): Croatian

The book deals with the policy of the Ustasha movement and the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) towards the Croatian Adriatic regions. Through the Rome Treaties of May 18, 1941, the NDH was compelled to cede significant portions of these regions, especially in Dalmatia, under the control of the Kingdom of Italy. After Italy's surrender in September 1943, the NDH had the opportunity to regain control over most of these territories. Based on numerous new and previously unused archival sources, the book examines the administration of the NDH in the former annexed parts of Dalmatia. This administration lasted until late 1944 when the German army and the NDH administration withdrew from Dalmatia, and the area fell under the control of Tito's partisans. The book also illustrates how the NDH attempted to extend its authority to Sušak-Rijeka, Istria, and the Bay of Kotor after Italy's surrender.

Matica hrvatska u Nezavisnoj Državi Hrvatskoj

Author(s): Višeslav Aralica / Language(s): Croatian

The book examines the history of the Matrix Croatica (Matica hrvatska) from 1935 until the end of the Independent State of Croatia. It primarily focuses on the mutual influence and intertwining of the activities of the cultural institution and the ideology of the nationalist/Ustasha political movement, in two periods: first, when this movement was in opposition to the main political currents in the state, and second, when this movement attempted to create and organize a totalitarian state.

Parliamentary Questions as a Mechanism for Oversight of the Security Sector

Author(s): Vladimir Erceg / Language(s): English

This document highlights the importance of tracking political party pledges to ensure democracy remains functional and accountable. Without such tracking, democracy risks being reduced to mere voter approval during elections, allowing political elites to focus solely on re-election strategies rather than serving the public will. Over time, this undermines democratic values and erodes confidence in institutions. The National Assembly of Serbia, as defined by the Constitution, is the supreme legislative body responsible for ensuring democratic checks and balances. It holds powers to oversee, control, and, if necessary, terminate the mandates of the government and individual ministers. This oversight is particularly crucial in the security sector due to its potential for power concentration, significant budget allocation, and its role in safeguarding citizens' rights. Parliament also serves as a critical intermediary between the public and executive power structures. The National Assembly employs several mechanisms to exercise its oversight role, including parliamentary questions, reports on government functioning, and interpellation. Parliamentary questions are a significant tool for scrutinizing government activities, particularly in the fields of security, defence, and internal affairs. These questions can address corruption and the management of resources within the security sector. An analysis of the eighth and ninth parliamentary terms (2008–2012) of Serbia's National Assembly reveals both the application and limitations of parliamentary questions in overseeing the executive. While this mechanism is widely used, shortcomings in its application were identified, prompting recommendations for improvement. The article underscores the necessity of enhancing these oversight tools to strengthen parliamentary control, especially in addressing corruption and ensuring transparency in the security sector.

Special Measures for Covert Data Collection : oversight handbook

Author(s): Predrag Petrović,Saša Đorđević,Katarina Đokić,Jelena Pejić / Language(s): English

Wiretapping and tailing of suspects are the traditional mainstays of security service activity. However, the multiplication and growing complexity of security threats and risks, as well as development of technology and communications has led to an increase in the number and variety of techniques used to covertly gather data, such as secretly accessing people’s communications. Additionally, the number of government bodies and institutions implementing such measures has grown beyond the police and security services to include, for example, the Administration for the Prevention of Money Laundering and has also come to include private detective and investigative agencies. Today such measures are no longer applied only for preventative intelligence gathering but also in the course of criminal proceedings. The situation is further confounded by the fact that these activities are governed by a vast number of (unintegrated) regulations and by decreasing understanding of this field, both by the general public and by professionals. This is best illustrated by the fact that lawmakers use a variety of terms to define such measures in legislation: “special procedures and measures” (Law on the VBA and VOA), “special measures infringing on the privacy of correspondence and other communications” (Law on the BIA) and “special investigative activity” (Criminal Procedure Code).

Communications Interception Measures and Data Retention from the Perspectives of Strasbourg, the Regulative Framework and Serbian Judicial Practice

Author(s): Dušan Ignjatović / Language(s): English

The security vs. privacy dilemma has been a subject of debate for decades. Even through the right to privacy is not decidedly affirmed by the constitutions of some democratic countries, it is clear that without privacy freedom would not be possible. This conclusion is confirmed by the histories of autocratic and totalitarian regimes, which have deployed secret police to suppress privacy and individual freedoms. On the other hand, the rise of new threats to security suggests freedom is not possible without protection. From the perspective of those who believe control is necessary, the problem lies in the fact that the impossibility of monitoring illegal activities makes it difficult to bring those responsible to account. On the other hand, tracking, surveillance, wiretapping, CCTV and hidden cameras are causes of dismay to those who have experienced draconian totalitarian regimes.

Osnovi reforme izbornog sistema : slučaj Srbije

Author(s): Dejan D. Bursać / Language(s): Serbian

Reality sometimes overtakes scientific research and academic debate. Although the topic of this monograph goes beyond just one in a sea of ​​electoral cycles, the events of the elections held in Serbia on December 17, 2023 significantly influenced the return of the narrative about the need for electoral reform to the domestic public. It certainly contributes to the topicality of this book. Election conditions as one of the important political issues in Serbia have been present in the public discourse for several years - at least since before the 2020 elections and the announced, and then realized, boycott of most opposition parties; while the need for change or at least serious reform of the electoral system has been discussed in academic circles for two decades. Despite this, the electoral system that has been in force in Serbia since October 2000 has proven to be extremely resilient. Its consequences are often extreme, both from the point of view of electoral actors, and from the point of view of the wider institutional and social framework, which we will discuss in a series of chapters below. The proportional electoral system with closed lists and the entire country as one electoral unit is rare in comparative practice and is applied, with greater or lesser variations, by only a few countries around the world, but in Serbia last year it celebrated its anniversary, since it was applied in equal ten consecutive parliamentary election cycles.