“Democracy” without a Demos? The Bosnian Constitutional Experiment and the Intentional Construction of Nonfunctioning States

Author(s): Robert M. Hayden / Language(s): English Issue: 02/2005

The social science literature on ethnically divided states is huge and varied, but suggestions for constitutional solutions are strangely uniform: “loose federations” of ethnically defined ministates, with minimal central authority that must act by consensus and thus cannot act at all on issues that are contested rather than consented. In Bosnia, the political system mandated by the international High Representative suffer the same structural flaws that were used to make the former Yugoslav federation and the Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina unworkable. Similarly nonviable systems were proposed in 1994 to 1995 for Croatia and in 1998 to 1999 for Kosovo and recently for Cyprus and for Iraq. This article analyzes the paradox of mandating consensus-based politics in ethnically divided states, inclusion in which does not have the consent of most members of at least one group.

“Our Victims Define Our Borders”: Commemorating Yugoslav Partisans in the Italo-Yugoslav Borderland

Author(s): Borut Klabjan / Language(s): English Issue: 02/2017

This article discusses local cultures of remembrance of Yugoslav partisans fallen during World War II in Trieste, now part of Italy, and investigates the role of memory activists in managing vernacular memory over time. The author analyses the interplay between memory and the production of space, something which has been neglected in other studies of memory formation. On the basis of local newspaper articles, archival material, and oral interviews, the essay examines the ideological imprint on the local cultural landscape, contributing to a more complex understanding of memory engagement. The focus is on grassroots initiatives rather than state-sponsored heritage projects. This article argues that memory initiatives are not solely the outcome of national narratives and top–down ideological impositions. It shows that official narratives have to negotiate with vernacular forms of memory engagement in the production of a local mnemonic landscape.

“SLOVENYA”DA XIX. YÜZYILIN İLK YARISINDA MİLLİ HAREKET

Author(s): Hakan Demir / Language(s): Turkish Issue: 2/2017

In this study the nationalization process of Slovenes, who declared their independence from Yugoslavia in 1991 and established an independent state for the first time, in the first half of the XIXth century will be examined. The Slovenes, firstly entered the process of nationalization through the studies in the field of language and culture and then they politically demanded the unification of different Slovene regions under the autonomous administrative unit of the “United Slovenia (Zedinjena Slovenia)” within the framework of Habsburg Monarchy during the Revolutions of 1848 in Europe. The “United Slovenia” was the first nationalist political program of Slovenes in the modern era. The “United Slovenia” program also was the basic reference to Slovenian nationalist demands during the Yugoslavian period in the XXth century.

“The Occupation of Beauty”: Imagining Nature and Nation in Latvia

Author(s): Katrina Z. S. Schwartz / Language(s): English Issue: 02/2007

This article uses the case of Latvia to explore the relationship between discourses of nature, homeland, and national identity. National entrepreneurs construct homelands by infusing physical terrain with national meanings, thereby transforming landscape into “ethnoscape.” The author traces this process in Latvia, beginning with the National Awakening of the 1860s, including the interwar period of independence, and the period under Soviet rule. By focusing on the intranational discursive construction of homeland, this article seeks to complicate the dominant understanding of national identity as a phenomenon linked solely to the drawing and policing of boundaries between members of the nation and outsiders.

“With the Poles We Have Always Got Along...”

(Unknown pages from the history of Bulgarian-Polish reciprocity)

Author(s): Ilia Todev / Language(s): English Issue: 1-2/2014

The text examines in brief the Bulgarian-Polish relations to point out that they, due to the important similarities in the destinies of the two Slav peoples, always has been good. The author presents at this background a little known case of Polish-Bulgarian synergy. It concerns a French booklet, published in 1868 by the lay leader of the Bulgarian Church Movement under the title “The Bulgarian Question”. The booklet, created in collaboration with a Polish émigré, was a kind of a manifesto through which the Autocephalous Bulgarian Church was re-established under the name of “Exarchate”. Besides this purely historical and purely Bulgarian significance this text has another very important dimension – which is upto-date and goes far beyond Bulgaria. It consists in the proclamation of the slogan “Variety in unity, liberty in order”, the first part of which is identical with the motto of the EU. This coincidence might be a reason to claim that the European idea has its Bulgarian-Polish roots which must be known and admitted – in Bulgaria and in Poland as well as in the EU.

„Duch mlčí, len surové mäso vyvádza“. Protižidovské stereotypy v ideológii Svetozára Hurbana-Vajanského

Author(s): Miloslav Szabó / Language(s): Slovak Issue: 2/2012

The study deals with the emotional history of Slovak antisemitism in the late 19th century. Inspired by the theory of Sander L. Gilman, it examines the role of the stereotypes of "race", sexuality and disease in the political thought of Svetozár Hurban-Vajanský who was the most influential Slovak ideologue in the 1880s and 1890s. The detailed analysis shows the impact of "race", sexuality and disease on Vajanský's perception of the nation-building processes in East Central Europe and their failure, respectivelly. The anti-Jewish stereotypes are seen as an integral part of the so called "naturalization-codes" (Bernhard Giesen) which helped the nationalist intellectuals to distinguish between their own national communities and the "others" in terms of "race" and gender. The search for the roots of the racialist antisemitism of the first half of the 20th century will thus reveal a particular ideological mixture of tradition and modernity, of Christianity and science – similar to the contemporary allegations of "ritual murder" or the visual anti-Jewish bias.

„Im się zdaje, że zapomnimy. O nie!” Rodowody rewolucji

Author(s): Marcin Zaremba / Language(s): Polish Issue: 6/2016

Zaremba demonstrates how insurrections and revolts were commemorated in the 1970s, how those traditions were reproduced, and who remembered them. The article begins with a description of the events of December 1970, which would become important reference points for ideas on oppositional activism. Discussing the Poles’ collective memory of March 1968 and October 1956, Zaremba emphasizes the significance of World War II: a code of resistance and cooperation has emerged as a long-term consequence, resounding most clearly and most frequently in the myth of the Warsaw Uprising. The article concludes with a discussion of what Adam Mickiewicz called książki zbójeckie (robbers’ books) – a term Zaremba applies to writers such as Bohdan Cywiński, Andrzej Kijowski and Marian Brandys. They were robbers’ books because they altered the atmosphere of public life in the 1970s, reclaiming memories of political thought that had no official place in the Polish People’s Republic.

„Балканските акценти“ на одеския „Привоз“: към въпроса за етническите компоненти в градската кухня

Author(s): Alexandr Prigarin / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 4/2016

On the basis of written sources and field materials, the article examines the phenomenonof the “Odessa cuisine” as a regional complex of food. In the context of thehistorical dynamics, it shows the role of the Balkan traditions in the formation anddevelopment of the everyday culture of the inhabitants of Odessa. Special attentionis paid to the current state of the trade subculture and, respectively, to the systemof the food traditions in Odessa. In particular, the article shows that there are manyproducts introduced by natives from the Balkans (first of all, Greeks and Bulgarians):eggplants, tomatoes, cheese, corn, mutton, grapes, etc. The regional dishes perceivedas “Odessaian” but having roots in the ethno-cultures of the above-mentioned communities,are developed on this basis. The text shows also the “blue” (eggplants) invarious variations of preparation and the “pshonka” (corn). Beside the national, theprofessional mass cuisine is also analyzed (restaurant); in it the Balkan substratumhas found its place a long time ago along with the Jewish, Ukrainian and Moldavian.In the menu of these institutions, there are surely a number of dishes with Balkanorigins. On the other hand, it is worth characterizing the special national restaurantsof Odessa (Bulgarian, Gagauzian, Greek).

„Възстани, моя волйо“ (Любен Каравелов и Стоян Чомаков – родство и отношения, прилики и единодействия)

Author(s): Ilia Todev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2014

It is well known that Lyuben Karavelov was leader of the revolutionary party in Bulgarian national movement, Stoyan Chomakov – leader of the evolutionist one. The fact that the two men were relatives is much less familiar. And it had not been almost mentioned in the voluminous Bulgarian historiography that also, there were both shared ideas and attitudes between the two leaders. The text shows what was in common with Karavelov and Chomakov to conclude that the will of joint undertakings with both revolutionaries and evolutionists in Bulgarian revival was stronger than their contradictions.

„Дигитален архив Марин Дринов“ – резултати и перспективи

Author(s): Tsvetana Velichkova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1-2/2015

One of the first projects of the Science Archive at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences is the “Digital Archive Marin Drinov” (http://www.math.bas.bg/digi/drinov/archiv.html). It was realized in cooperation with the department of Applied Information Technologies in the Humanities at the Institute of Mathematics and Computer Science, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. The project began back in 2006 with the scanning of 24 archival units (176 facsimiles of manuscripts, 14 printings and 15 black and white photos) from fond № 104K of the Science Archive. It is worth mentioning that the digitalization of a personal archival fond is the first of its kind in Bulgaria with respect to the technological, methodological, and classification merits of the digitalized information. The future plans of the team that undertook this project are closely related to the systematic updating of published information, in terms of quantity and thematic content, with documents reflecting the life and work of M. Drinov which are kept in the fonds of the Science Archive. This project is still viable in 2014, a year marking the 145th anniversary of the Bulgarian Literary Society (now the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.)

„За нашите пари място намериха, а нашите думи и молби под камък оставиха“: Петко Р. Славейков и българският църковен въпрос през 1858 година

Author(s): Vera Boneva / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 2/2021

In 1858 Petko R. Slaveykov (1827–1895) was already an influential public figure in his homeland – the regions of Tarnovo and Tryavna. Gradually, it was becoming more and more visible nationally – especially in the field of the church struggle against the Patriarchate of Constantinople and its metropolitans on Bulgarian lands. Slaveykov’s literary endeavors were becoming more and more recognizable. In this context, one of his unpublished and unknown pamphlets is presented and interpreted in the paper. The attribution of the manuscript is based on a wide range of data – archival, biographical, literary. The connection with the other components of the writer’s work is implemented through facts, topics and language specifics. The full text of the manuscript is presented in compliance with the current rules for publishing archival materials from the Revival epoch.

„Народен орган, каквото трябва“. Епизод от историята на предосвобожденската българска журналистика

Author(s): Antoaneta Kirilova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1-2/2017

The article analyzes the ideas of Nayden Gerov (1823–1900) – Bulgarian public figure and Russian diplomat during the third quarter of the 19th century – about the publishing of a Bulgarian newspaper (in the documents from the mentioned period called ‘gazeta’, ‘journal’ or ‘vestnik’) during the 50s and in the beginning of the 60s. The review of the known data from the sources, which show how Gerov’s ideas are born and how they change, is made in a close relation to the concrete circumstances of the Bulgarian social development during those times – the expansion of the church-national movement after the end of the Crimean war (1853–1856) and after the issuing of the latest reform edict – Hatt-i Hümayun (1856), with which the Sultan guarantees all of his subjects equal religious and civil rights. Because of the similarity between the environment and the circumstances, in which Gerov’s ideas are born, and those, in which the issuing of the ‘Suvetnik’ newspaper in Tsarigrad (Istanbul) occurred in March 1863, a special place in the article is dedicated to the pre-history and the first steps of this Bulgarian newspaper, based on newly discovered archive and published sources. An attempt is made to shed light on Evlogi and Hristo Georgievi’s participation with financial assistance in its issuing, based on the clues, which point to the role of the two Bulgarian merchants in Gerov’s ideas from the second half of the 50s. By the way, the topic about the financing of a periodical issue is a main point in Gerov’s ideas and together with the question about the persona of the editor makes the core of Gerov’s concept about the functions and the meaning of the pre-liberation Bulgarian journalism.

„Строителите на съвременна България”: въвеждане извън национализма

Author(s): Ventseslav Sholce / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1 (5)/2017

The aim of this paper is to make an inquiry into the structure of Introduction to Bulgarian author and diplomat Simeon Radev’s book of history Builders of Modern-day Bulgaria (1910). The inquiry conceives a certain problematization of the supposedly self-evident meaning of the text by showing its irreducible ambiguity. The paper tries to propose a new theoretical framework for future analyses on nationalist discourse in Bulgarian context.

Читалища, селищни общности и фолклорна култура през Възраждането

Author(s): Stela Nenova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 2/2018

The author studies the first years after the introduction of the chitalishte institution when these cultural centres appeared and established themselves in the dynamic sociocultural context of the local communities – first in some of the well-developed Bulgarian towns and later in many of the Bulgarian villages. Chitalishte is a cultural and educational institution and is thus studied in the context of the modernization, educational and nation building ideas pertinent in the 1860s and 1870s. At that time the institution developed its specific features (its local nature, complex functions, autonomous social form of governance). The article presents the decisive moments certifying for the institutional activity of the chitalishta with an accent on these issues which show close relations to the folk culture, which was as a need and as a type of communication dominant in the local culture.

Чудният свят на древните българи

Author(s): Rumen Daskalov / Language(s): Bulgarian

This is a book about the history and the origin of the Proto-Bulgarians and their way to the Balkans and it follows the concept for modern Proto-Bulgarian history. What can be called "modern" is the fact, that the sources on which this book is based are rather different from the well known and traditionally used Latin and Byzantine authors, but among the reviewed sources are Chinese, Indian, Arab, Armenian and other texts of different types ans genres. The author Rumen Daskalov is giving his own interpretations and the purpose of his analysis is to emphasize, summarize and promote the best accomplishments of the Bulgarian school of Proto-Bulgarian history.

Щрихи към историята на Кримската война във Варна и Добруджа. Отношението към войната, чуждата страна и „другия“

Author(s): Ivan Roussev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2014

On the grounds of documental sources and memories of contemporaries the author investigates the different and contradictory attitudes of the main ethnicities, represented in Varna and Dobrudzha (Turks, Bulgarians, Greeks, Tatars, Wallachians), toward the European (chiefly French) soldiers and officers who used to sojourn in the region during the Crimean War (1853-1856). The similarly quite contradictory attitude of the French toward the local people has also been examined in the article. The French introduced to the native population the achievements of the modern civilization. Among them were the newest innovations in the area of the communications (the post, the telegraph), as well as the ideas of the Modern Age, which rejected all kinds of violence on the human personality, the injustice, the Oriental habits. Thus, the initial reticence of the local Christians toward the French gradually turned into sympathy. The Crimean War stimulated important processes in the Bulgaria’s revival society, in its economic, political and cultural development.

Щрихи от формирането на българския интелектуален елит през ХІХ век: случаят Марин Дринов – Нешо Бончев

Author(s): Plamen Bozhinov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2017

The formation of the Bulgarian intellectual elite in the nineteenth century can be examined through the prism of macro-history, but it can be seen in more detail and more specifically through the fate of individual prominent artists, through the prism of the microhistory. Based on the available documentary material and the existing historiographic achievements, the article tracks the formation and growth of two of the leading Bulgarian intellectuals in the nineteenth century, as is undoubtedly Marin Drinov and Nesho Bonchev. Special attention is paid to the conditions, factors and individuals who influence them during their school years in Panagyurishte, their teachings at the seminary in Kiev and their student years at the Moscow University.

Югославяне Австро-Венгрии, Россия и неославизм

Author(s): Sergei Romanenko / Language(s): Russian Issue: 3-4/1996

Юра Константинова. Българи и гърци в борба за османското наследство В. Търново. Изд. „Фабер“, 2014. 296 с.

Author(s): Tina Georgieva / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 5-6/2014

Book Review

უცნობი საარქივო მასალები, უცხოელების მიერ შეფასებული XIX-XX საუკუნის სამხრეთ-დასავლეთ საქართველოს შესახებ

Author(s): Otar Gogolishvili,Emzar Makaradze / Language(s): Georgian Issue: 1/2019

Ottoman Empire (1877-1878), this region returned to its motherland, but this time the Caucasian administration of Russian empire was trying to hinder its development and confront this side to the rest of Georgia. In Russian leaders’ opinion, it should transform to an important bridge-head for Russian expansion in the near east and platform for implementation of far-reaching plans of empire. Foreigners were also interested in this region of Georgia. They visited to this region at many times and left us important information about political, social, economic and cultural-educational life of the southwestern Georgia of that time (XIX-XX cc.).