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This study is provoked by one of the most significant cases of abuses over the last two decades in Bulgaria - the bankruptcy of CCB (Corporate Commercial Bank), the fourth largest bank in the country. After the 1996-1997 crisis, when one third of the banks went bankrupt, the country's banking sector collapsed. This is the second case in which huge financial resources "evaporated" and the negative consequences affected a wide range of public institutions and private subjects. The emergence of periodically recurring financial crises, with multiple impacts on public, economic and political life, motivates Transparency International Bulgaria to look for a systematic response to the problem and look beyond the specific case. The present book is based on the analytical approach of the international anti-corruption organization Transparency International "National Integrity System" which assesses clearly defined criteria, the capacity, functioning and management of sectors and institutions with key importance in counteracting corruption. The study is based on an analysis of the legislation and practical actions of the investigated institutions, a wide range of documentary sources, reports, assessments, media publications, and interviews with experts and public figures that have had direct observations and touch with the CCB case. It reflects an attempt to formulate an impartial, objective assessment of the functioning of the banking supervisory system in the 2009-2014 periods but also pursues another objective - to serve as a starting point for policies and strategic actions to give an adequate systemic response to established deficits. Viewed through this prism, this publication expresses the ambition of the Transparency International Bulgaria to not only prevent future crises of this nature, but also to contribute to the institutional strengthening of the system of supervisory institutions in Bulgaria.
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Prof. Georgy Fotev is a Bulgarian sociologist. His scientific works are in the areas of theory and history of sociology and the disciplinary fields of modern sociology. The focus of the research interests of G.Fotev is the nature of sociology as a multiple paradigm science. Another major theme in the works of Georgy Fotev is the dialogue as a base and horizon of multiple paradigm sociology. Georgy Fotev has publications in the fields of historical sociology, sociology of politics, ethnosociology, the crisis of legitimacy, sociology of values, etc. His books "The long night of communism in Bulgaria" and "Bulgarian melancholy" throw light on the dramatic fate of the Bulgarian national society. Georgy Fotev was Minister of Education and Science (1991 - 1992). He is professor emeritus of New Bulgarian University. In 2003 he was awarded the Distinguished Service Award from the American University in Bulgaria. Mankind is shaken by a multitude of uncertainty. There is an increasing perception that uncertainty becomes permanent. The focus is on the existential, social, political, economic, global and other basic varieties of human uncertainty. The author explores the fundamental conditions of human uncertainty and the main forms of her manifestation and experience. The phenomenon is seen in the light of the new science of chaos and complexity in the context of the risky society/world, in terms of catastrophic consciousness and the conditions of crisis types. Particular attention is paid to trust as a fundamental social attitude and condition against decadent attitudes and nihilism.
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Rarely inspiring book, Vedad Spahić’s: “Literature and Identity” presents us with determinants of the Bosniak identity, contained in the Bosniak and Bosnian literary narrative. Spahić’s kaleidoscopic display of literary narratives about Bosniak identity ranges from orientalist stereotypes of Islam, secularism and proletarian internationalism over nationalism, traumatic experiences of war destruction, victimization and self-victimization, to nomadism, globalization and the ontological and gnosiological relativism, which always raise the following questions: What do the Bosniaks know about themselves?; What should the Bosniaks do?; What may they hope for?; all of which can be summarized into a single question: Who are the Bosniaks? The fundamental question of every social collectivity, the question of identity, requires theoretical and categorical determination that Hegel placed in the second volume of his Logic. This categorical determination, which serves as our guideline, teaches about the “substance”, “essence” or “being”. The question of identity is a matter of “reflection-in-self “, an attitude towards self, not as a direct comparison but as a reflexive relationship. “Reflection in self” is a process of self-determination, but every determination does not constitute an identity. The very process of determination, or self-determination, is expressed as a narrative. Only essential definition allows identity: that which is the same in all different manifestations. Having identity means to be able to appear in different forms, but in a way that no form of appearance exhausts the nature of thing or its identity. Omnis determinatio est negatio. Every determination presupposes difference. We cannot talk about identity, without talking about (presupposing) difference. If we say that the Bosniaks are Muslims, then this determination assumes its difference, the non-Muslims: Christians, Jews. This difference (relation) between Muslims and non-Muslims must be overcome by the means of negation or mutual recognition. We interpret ourselves in relation to others, as others interpret us in relation to themselves. Only in this relation of identity and difference, i.e. by overcoming the difference, new forms of sociability as the basis or reason for existence of individual identity, are being established. Historical practice shows that religious, national and state determinants of Bosniaks, produce differences in relation to the Serbs and Croats, which cannot be overcome by mutual recognition at a higher level of sociability. The fundamental societal form that constitutes the Bosniak identity established by essential determinants, especially Islam which is a subject of nationalization attempts, is expressed as a pre-modern religious or confessional community unable to complete national and political emancipation of the Bosniaks. The relation between reality (identity of Bosnsiaks) and art can manifest itself in different forms. Essentially, art either represents reality of things – depicting phenomenon as it is, depicting it’s “surface”, or it succeeds in depicting the essence of things, by manifesting “that which is present in an absent”, thus bringing out the essence, or identity, of the reality it presents.
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The monograph attempts to provide an empirically grounded answer to a number of discussional scientific issues related to individual decision-making differences by building a comprehensive conceptual model and constructing a specifically selected toolbox as a prerequisite for creating an empirically validated methodology in the field of research of individual differences in decision-making. Original empirical results have been obtained confirming that the style of decision-making is not identical to cognitive style (nor is it a subset, but contains a cognitive component that does not exhaust any of the styles) and is related to mental self-regulation due to individual differences, generated by the ways of satisfying the hedonistic motif (regulatory focus and fashion), the need to control excitement (stress control), and the need for connectivity and increased self-esteem. These results are a prerequisite for the further development of individual decision-making research as well as the decision-making theory itself, because it allows for a fuller consideration of individual differences and their interaction with the characteristics of the situation and the problem that is being solved.The methodological basis of the study is the cognitive survival theory of Seymour Epstein. The results and theoretical summaries obtained empirically confirm the validity of the global personality theory that has the potential to explain new scientific problems, incorporating private theories such as E. Tory Higgins' motivational theory and Mark R. Leary's sociometric mechanism.
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This publication presents the Proceedings of the 11th International RAIS Conference on Social Sciences held at Johns Hopkins University, in Montgomery County Campus, Rockville, MD, on November 19-20, 2018. The Conference was organized by Research Association for Interdisciplinary Studies.
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Many books have already been written about how Serbia reacted to the challenge at the beginning of the Third Millennium. In front of the reader is a book that stands out from the crowd because of who, when and what is said in it. On the airwaves of Radio Deutsche Welle, 149 intellectuals, predominantly of Serbian nationality, but also foreigners who deal with Serbia professionally, spoke in 169 interviews about the situation in Serbia mainly after October 5, 2000. By definition, the critical, individual opinion of economists, historians, doctors, diplomats, and artists rounded off the worrying picture of the whole. Speaking independently of each other, the interlocutors of Radio Deutsche Welle reveal the reality of Serbia, which is significantly different from the official reality. Marked as a peaceful revolution, as a new beginning for Serbia, as its historic chance to stop wasting time, with the undivided support of the European Union and the United States of America, October 5, 2000, when the consensual autocrat Slobodan Milošević was removed, was ambiguous. the event. Great hopes were raised; created unrealistic but explainable expectations; the apparent unity of intentions of the main actors was achieved. But, by itself, October 5, 2000 did not represent the balance of what happened in the previous 15 years, and even less a clear projection of Serbia in the future. The attempt made by Prime Minister Zoran Đinđić in this direction was brutally stopped by his murder. Legalism was the new name for the large-state project of the 1990s, which led Serbia to disaster, and the Serbian national and state issue to a dead end. The dismantling of Slobodan Milošević's regime could only occur as a consequence of discontinuity with that policy. … Collected in this book, they represent an important testimony that binds the ruling structures in Serbia. The reality cannot be ignored if there is a political will to change it and to stop the regression of Serbia.
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Interview by Želimir Bojević, with: 1. Bošković, Aleksandar 2. Popov, Nebojša 3. Radovanović, Dobrivoje 4. Veljak, Lino 5. Zajović, Staša 6. Stanovčić, Vojislav 7. Golubović, Zagorka 8. Gruden, Tamara 9. Arsenijević, Vladimir 10. Bogosavljević, Srđan 11. Đorđević, Mirko 12. Lukić, Svetlana 13. Gredelj, Stjepan 14. Simović-Hiber, Ivana 15. Hellman, Matias 16. Lučić-Čavić, Milica 17. Resanović, Aleksandar 18. Biserko, Sonja 19. Savić, Obrad 20. Kandić , Nataša 21. Popović, Đorđe 22. Kovačević-Vučo, Biljana 23. Mlađenović, Lepa 24. David, Filip 25. Perović, Latinka 26. Milosavljević, Olivera 27. Krmpotić, Vesna 28. Milić, Jelena 29. Prpa, Branka 30. Singer, Aca 31. Kovačević, Živorad 32. Janjić, Dušan 33. Pantić, Danijel 34. Barać, Verica 35. Kljajić-Imširović, Jelka 36. Gavanski, Bogdan 37. Matić, Jovanka 38. Tešanović, Jasmina 39. Knežević, Ana 40. Blagojević, Marina 41. Srbljanović, Biljana 42. Jevremović, Zorica
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The malicious use of social media is a widespread phenomenon, targeting individuals, public opinion, and in some cases even the functioning of the state. In recent years, social media platforms have been abused by foreign governments, private companies, and individuals to influence the outcomes of democratic elections and to undermine public trust in the societies in which we live. Today, social media platforms are manipulated by malign actors in order to pursue their political and military goals. In other words, social media platforms have developed into an effective tool for waging information warfare. Although information warfare is nothing new, social media platforms offer a cheaper, more efficient, and less demanding stage for influencing larger numbers of people than ever before. While the social media platforms are conduits facilitating the free passage of information, the companies that own them are active participants wielding significant influence over what takes place in the social media space and, increasingly, over how we communicate, interact, and socialise in the 21st century.
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The publication is focused on the topic of local media that is often neglected in the field of media studies. The main points of view are the analysis of local audiences and the characteristics of the relationship between local media and local audiences. The international group of nineteen authors maps the specifics of the functioning of local media and, more generally, local communication in different (mainly European) states.
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Since the Acts of the Union in 1707, Scotland has struggled to varying degrees for independence. Over the last few decades, the demand for Scottish independence grew stronger, which was epitomized in the Scottish National Party’s landslide victory in the 2011 elections to the Scottish Parliament. Once in power, the SNP, under the leadership of First Minister Alex Salmond, began to work on the fulfilment of its campaign pledge to smooth the way toward a public vote on Scottish independence (Mitchell, 2016). As a result, Scots were given the right to choose whether or not Scotland should be an independent country in the Scottish independence referendum on September 18, 2014.
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Local newspapers are a unique part of the media landscape, tasked with informing the community of events and issues in their immediate area and providing them with the knowledge they need to understand complex social issues. Despite advances in digital technologies, “newspapers remain a primary and vital component of the newsgathering infrastructure” (Clarke, 2014, p. 8). Therefore, the power of local print newspapers to build connections with and influence their communities makes them valuable sources for analysis. This chapter offers a discursive analysis of self-referential discourses utilised by the Camden Advertiser during reports on a controversial Islamic School proposal in Camden, Western Sydney, NSW, Australia. Self-referential is used here to describe the ways in which the Camden Advertiser referenced its own name, its journalists, and reflected on previously published newspaper content during the Islamic school debate.
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The penetration of external information influence in a domestic media ecosystem is largely enabled by the interactions between foreign and domestic actors. The term ‘Information Laundering’ describes how these actors manipulate and amplify manipulated information in a particular media environment and the techniques utilised for such purposes. This report evaluates to what extent Kremlin-official and pro-Kremlin actors leverage Information Laundering techniques to conduct influence campaigns in the Nordic-Baltic countries and examines the role that domestic and foreign actors play in enabling these campaigns to reach target audiences. For this purpose, the NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence developed a theoretical model of Information Laundering presented in this study. The model was applied to a comparative analysis of 32 Information Laundering cases, linked to the activity of 570 single actors in the eight Nordic-Baltic countries. Through researching Information Laundering in the region, this report aims to support national institutions in their goal to build resilience against hostile information influence operations.
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History can be used as a tool of influence as was highlighted in Annual Review 2014 of Estonian Internal Security Service; “historical propaganda plays a key role in justifying the actions and conquests of Russia’s aggressive foreign policy”. Russia has its own historical policy, which the Kremlin uses for achieving its goals. Various methods of using and (re)-interpreting or manipulation(s) historical facts and narratives are not a new phenomenon in the modern world, but in the 21st century they have become more significant in influencing target audiences. Several modern pro-Kremlin oriented Russian historians and even politicians are manipulating historical facts.
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In an increasingly dynamic digital information environment, online communication patterns are constantly shifting, and hostile information influence activities are continuously adapting to spread influence faster and reach wider audiences. The use of Information Laundering techniques by Kremlin and pro-Kremlin actors is an outcome of this trend. Information Laundering (IL) has emerged as a security challenge in a context where global audiences are becoming highly reliant on online sources to obtain the information that will shape their opinions about current socio-political issues.
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The subject of this paper is the denial and glorification of genocide in Srebrenica on sports fields in Bosnia and Herzegovina and surrounding countries, following the behavior of members of the fan subculture. In this paper, we will present and analyze their views, which they send to the public through slogans, banners, songs designed just for the occasion. We also asked about the place and role of criminals on sports fields and what kind of popularity they enjoy among fans. How fans in Serbia see Ratko Mladic will be presented on the examples of two fan groups of the biggest Serbian clubs “Partizan” and “Red Star”. Graffiti is a frequent occurrence on the streets of our cities, and we will also look at the messages that decorate the walls and buildings in places with a majority Bosniak population. The characteristic of the sport is reflected in its massiveness. Sports actors are divided into two categories, observers and active participants. In the past decade, some athletes, those who should be an example of behavior in society, have “shaken” the public with their attitudes, and we will talk about them and the way the public and fans reacted to their statements about the Srebrenica genocide and glorification of war criminals.
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Increasing competition in the organizational environment and strengthening human capital can greatly contribute to the ability to close existing gaps in the development process and ensure a more competitive level, and the professional development process includes not only setting career goals and training agreements, but also evaluations and the feedback needed to assess progress. By optimizing nonverbal skills and forming impression management strategies promoted by psychological training in enhancing the knowledge and skills of police employees, they serve as a basis for organizational projects designed to facilitate self-realization of internal potential and stimulate their involvement in the organization. Organizational behavior is the study of the behaviors of individuals, which involves understanding, predicting and controlling human behavior, models and structures, in order to improve the environment, performance and efficiency of the organization. The original of this paper is that the research results led to the identification of components and mechanisms for producing change at the macro-, meso- and microsocial level, which uses a perpetual mobilization of social actors in organizations. Another novelty, for a wider geographical area of scientific research, is the application of an intervention methodology in the training impression management strategies through nonverbal communication, with the purpose and purpose in developing relational skills and optimizing professional activity. The information obtained in research on nonverbal communication and impression management tactics on the organizational environment, can be applied for the development of programs for organizational counseling activities, business coaching and large-scale developmental training, promoted through managerial and corporate profile.
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Ukraine is a multinational and multicultural country. Though Ukrainian scientists have studied the issue of multicultural education from different aspects, nevertheless, there is no special or ideal model of multicultural education. That is why we decided to monitor the students’ multicultural education state at secondary schools of Ukraine. In order to identify the state of multicultural education in Ukrainian schools we conducted an empirical study in schools of Cherkasy region among primary, secondary and senior level students. The main method was determined as questionnaire, which is provided for clarification of issues of national-patriotic and multicultural orientation. Accordingly, questionnaires that combined quantitative and qualitative data collection were offered to the 4th, 6th and 11th grade students in some schools in Uman and Uman district, covering 296 respondents. Thus, the monitoring of the state of multicultural education in Ukrainian school education has shown that the problem of multicultural upbringing of children and young people is addressed at the government level, relevant research is conducted, some aspects of multiculturalism are observed in educational programs of some subjects, but the level of multicultural education of students should be higher.
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Bulgaria has been undergoing numerous crises since 2020 – the coronavirus pandemic, followed by the war in Ukraine and its strong local consequences, and a political crisis with five early elections for National Assembly, all in a period of three years. In this social turbulence, new political parties emerged, one of which came to a particular interest due to its ideology resting on conspiracy theories. In a previous article I have followed the main narratives that members of the party presented during the fall of 2022 election campaign. Here I will further my investigation deeper into the conspiracy theories that were used to form these narratives.
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