Bulgaria in the Global Value Chains

Author(s): Teodora Georgieva,Todor Galev,Todor Yalamov,Fani Koleva,Roumyana Georgieva / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2017

Innovation.bg 2017 observes the technological interdependence of the national economy on a European and global scale. A special focus is placed on the automotive and related industries in respect of which Bulgaria is a magnet for foreign investors not only as a systems integrator but also as an R&D centre and a source of new technological solutions. Innvation.bg provides a reliable annual assessment of the innovation performance of the Bulgarian economy and of the current conditions and development opportunities of the Bulgarian innovation system. The report provides recommendations on the improvement of the public policy on innovation, building on the latest international theoretical and empirical studies and taking into account the specific economic, political, cultural and institutional framework of the innovation system in Bulgaria. The report targets leaders and decision-makers in the public and private sector of the country and abroad.

Transitions Online-Around the Bloc-4 March

Author(s): Ioana Caloianu / Language(s): English Issue: 03/09/2020

TOL’s regional news roundup: Slovenia gets new-old PM; Greta too sensitive for Hungary; a Russian Disneyland; an arms trafficking priest in Ukraine; and the Lithuanian art scene.

Transitions Online_Around the Bloc-11 March

Author(s): Ioana Caloianu / Language(s): English Issue: 03/16/2020

TOL’s regional news roundup: Putin forever; ruined schools in Kyrgyzstan; rape survivors of the Yugoslav wars; Roma water access in Slovenia; and mechanized labor in CE.

Modern European Separatism: the Role of the European Union and Wealth

Author(s): Veselin Vasilev / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2020

The article is aimed at the change of the separatist discourse from ethnic self-determination to secession based on public spending and wealth redistribution. Further, it aims to explain the role of the European Union, its legislation and politics, in these processes amongst its Member States. Besides establishing that such role is both increasing and diminishing separatist tendencies due to the Single Market, legislation on regions or siding with Member States against secession, the article argues that the paradigm may change yet again to the notions of human rights, citizenship and immigration, due to the stall of economic secessionist aspirations.

Introduction

Author(s): / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2019

The articles gathered in this issue of MemoScapes, titled Frames of Reference in Central Europe, and the Black Sea Region, in the Last Two Centuries, assess the importance of nationhood in constructing the social imaginary in the above mentioned regions. Furthermore, they emphasize the national myths, the building processes of national, local, and regional identities in the post-communist/post-soviet world as well as the role played by scholars and politicians, by mass-media and social media in forging new narratives on the past, present, and future. The role of minorities and diasporic communities in the national building processes in the region are also highlighted by a number of papers.

Branding a Linguistic Turn in Nationalism. The Case of the Georgian Alphabet

Author(s): Dominik Gutmeyr / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2019

Under the premise that language and script may constitute central elements in today’s nation building processes, this article argues that the Georgian alphabet holds a particularly important role in the articulation of a post-socialist identity for society as also for government foreign policy objectives in Georgia. By examining Batumi’s “Alphabetic Tower”, a 135m tall iron construction with the letters of the Georgian alphabet represented along a twisting double helix pattern, as well as the brand “Georgia. Made by Characters”, developed for Georgia’s status as guest of honour at the 2018 Frankfurt Book Fair, the paper demonstrates how internal nation building and external nation branding are intrinsically interlinked. Drawing on studies examining a linguistic turn in Georgian nationalism, I suggest that the script’s visual-iconographic rather than its phonographic dimension is used for intertwined identity politics and nation branding. The envisaged definition of Georgia as a nation of high and unique culture transcends the need for stabilizing new post-socialist national narratives from within. By defining itself as a nation based on cultural values, Georgia additionally attempts to position itself as culturally associated to Europe, thereby seeking to underscore the ambition of Euro-Atlantic integration.

Greeks of Tsalka: History, Culture, Language, and Crisis of Ethnic Identity

Author(s): Stavris Parastatov,Alla Kondrasheva / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2019

The Greeks of Tsalka is a sub-ethnic group, whose ancestors originated from the Pontus and Erzurum regions and lived for several centuries under the rule of the Ottomans. Therefore they absorbed cultural elements of many peoples of Asia Minor – Turks, Armenians, Persians, Assyrians, etc. That can be traced in their language, folklore, and rites. As a result of the Russian-Turkish wars, they were resettled to the territory of Georgia – to the Tsalka region. The migration to the territory of the Russian Empire was accomplished in several waves – after the Russian-Turkish war of 1828-1829 until the end of the 19th century. At the time of the resettlement, most of them forget their native language and switched to Turkish.After the collapse of the Soviet Union, in Georgia, the inter-ethnic issue became very acute. In conjunction with the economic crisis, the situation forced many Greeks to leave Tsalka. Currently, the Greeks of Tsalka have a little more than 50 thousand representatives, living mainly in Greece and in southern Russia. Those who moved to Greece almost immediately faced an identity crisis, as the Greek society did not welcome them well. As a result, many Greeks of Tsalka ceased to identify themselves as Greek and tried to forge new hypotheses about their origin.

The Belarusian People’s Republic, and the Belarusian National Identity

Author(s): Marek Figura,Anna Kuleszewicz / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2019

The influence of Polonization, Rusification and sovietization on the Belarusian people made Belarusians one of the least historical-conscious nations in Europe. However, an important reference frame could play a role in shaping a future Belarusian national identity: the Belarusian People's Republic, a political entity that existed for several months in 1918. In the recent years, a certain trend of "returning to the roots" can be observed, in which the symbolism related to the Belarusian People's Republic seems to enjoy a special place.

Transitions Online-Around the Bloc-22 April

Author(s): Ioana Caloianu / Language(s): English Issue: 04/27/2020

Highlights from our coverage region: secret Russian trial of ex-U.S. Marine; new COVID-19 hospital in Moscow; Ukrainian journalist suspected of Euromaidan murder; the Budapest-Belgrade railway; and Turkmenistan falls short of EU aid.

Transitions Online_Around the Bloc-30 April

Author(s): Ioana Caloianu / Language(s): English Issue: 05/04/2020

News from around the bloc: a key suspect in the MH17 case; Babis and the European Parliament; dry season in Russia; the Serbian church in Montenegro; and defamation in Mongolia.

“Brad Pitt Halal” and the Hybrid Woman: Gender Representations and Religion through Turkish Soap Operas

Author(s): LAROCHELLE Dimitra Laurence / Language(s): English Issue: 24 (2)/2019

Through this article we aim to present the results of our empirical research concerning the impact of religion on gender representations projected through Turkish soap operas. Since 2000, Turkey aims to become a model of a Muslim but democratic and modern country in the region especially for other Muslim countries. Even if AKP is not an explicitly religious party, the statements effectuated from times to times by its representants indicate an important convergence between the religious values and the party’s political and social priorities. Within this context, Turkish soap operas, function not only as tools of the country’s soft power outside Turkey’s borders and of promotion of its neo-Ottoman political orientation but also as tools for the promotion and the perpetuation of the government’s world view inside the country. The taboo of the sexuality and the importance of motherhood, the underrepresentation of LGBTQ community members, of ethnic or of religious minorities, the “sin” and the attribution of justice are some of the elements we discuss in the present article.

Converging Identities, Emerging Discourses: Muslim Fe-male Voices in British Media

Author(s): Ahmed Sameera T / Language(s): English Issue: 24 (2)/2019

There is an increasing presence of female Muslim voices in both mainstream British media and minority or community media as greater access has enabled them to create spaces for themselves in print, broadcast and new media. In converging their gender and religious identities, they are generating new discourses that challenge widely held stereotypes and starting new conversations about what it means to be female, British and Muslim. Using interview data from five journalists and examples of media discourses, this paper shows how the articulation of gendered and religious identities is evidence of a growing confidence and continued agency among young Muslim women in the UK.

Cas Mudde & Cristóbal Rovira Kaltwasser 2017. Populism: A very short introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 131, ISBN 9780190234874

Author(s): Elena Negrea-Busuioc / Language(s): English Issue: 23/2019

Events

Author(s): Peter Maurer,Agnieszka Stępińska / Language(s): English Issue: 23/2019

Trending topics in the research on populist communication and unresolved problems

„Úgy éreztük, hogy a magyar emigráns szervezetek vezetői Amerikában a múltban élnek, és ellentétes politikai céljaikkal szétforgácsolják a közösségeinket. Elhatároztuk, hogy ezen mi változtatni fogunk”

Author(s): Dániel Gazsó / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 3/2019

Естетическият наглед във Военен дневник на Ернст Юнгер

Author(s): Vladimir Sabourin / Language(s): English,Bulgarian Issue: 1/2020

In this article I undertake a close reading of Ernst Jünger’s War Diary (1914-1918) as a founding text both of his following literary work and his rightwing political radicalization during the Weimar Republic. The representation of the war experience in the War Diary follows a pattern of detachment which relies on an implicit aesthetical perception. This pattern evolves to a literary form in Jünger’s Strom of Steel (1920) and his war books. The war experience of the young apolitical volunteer is subjected latter on to an ideological reshaping and rewriting in Jünger’s evolution to an emblematic figure of the so-called “conservative revolution”. This ideological reshaping configures an (rightwing) political subject who leans on the shining and blindness of the aesthetical perception. The article is a part of a larger comparative study confronting the key role played by the experience of World War I in the work of Ernst Jünger and the leftwing Bulgarian literary critic Ivan Meshekov.

Европейските фондове и финансиране на висшето образование в България

Author(s): Ivan ZHELEV,Sevdalina Hristova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 3/2020

Higher education is a major area of public life that is designed to provide highly skilled human resources. Its development is directly connected to the financing of training, research and innovation costs. The aim of the authors is to study the level of higher education funding in Bulgaria and on this basis to outline the main trends and opportunities for increasing the funding from the European funds of higher education institutions. Some research methods to analyze statistical rows are used such as average values, basic and chain growth rates, etc. A few principal trends are marked and some recommendations for increasing European funding for higher education are indicated.

European and National Measures in Support of Public-Private Partnerships in Higher Education

Author(s): Alexander Valkov,Krasimira S. Valcheva / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2020

The improvement of higher education and its transformation into a source of economic growth and innovation is a shared priority for the EU countries. Public-private partnerships are a successful mechanism that increase and motivate the sharing of resources, knowledge and achievements in response to the under funding of the higher education institutions and improves the efficiency and effectiveness in spending public resources. In the Bulgarian higher education sector, PPPs are an underutilized opportunity in key areas such as research and development and innovative cooperation between the universities and the business sector. In the context of the benefits of PPPs in higher education,the article summarizes the leading European instruments designed to enhance the role of universities in the area of research and innovation. By assessing the implementation of key existing opportunities at national level and summarizing the reasons for the “modest” local capacity for effective use of the designated funding, the article focuses on the need for establishment of an institutional environment that encourages partnerships.

Contemporary Trends of Professional Training Specialists in the Economic Field at Higher Education Institutions of Poland and Ukraine

Author(s): Nadezhda Chernukha,Alla Zagorodnya,Mariana Petrova / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2020

The purpose of the study is to identify the main tendencies of professional training of specialists in the economic field in higher education institutions of the Republic of Poland and Ukraine. Given the interdisciplinary nature of the problem, the methodology of the research is based on a complex-integrative combination of theoretical approaches of a number of sciences, in particular pedagogy, psychology, as well as general scientific methods of system analysis, synthesis, abstraction, generalization and under. Results - common modern tendencies of professional training of economic specialists in higher education institutions of the Republic of Poland and Ukraine (diversification of educational services; mass education of higher education; modernization of vocational training; humanitarianization of vocational education; internationalization of students and undergraduate students; transition from traditional concepts of vocational training to innovative; improvement of pedagogical component of higher education), and in values of different trends in training (training globalization, invigorating training, decentralization of management of the education system). Conclusions - Taking into account the mentality, conditions, time and task sof higher education institutions of Ukraine and in order to reach world standards, a number of important steps should be taken to improve the system of higher economic education of Ukraine. Therefore, it is advisable to introduce a system of professional training of specialists in the economic sector; the link between training and continuity between theoretical training and the conditions for its practical implementation; passing different types of practice in leading financial institutions and enterprises of Ukraine and EU countries; development of academic and professional mobility; creation of research universities with the involvement of leading foreign experts.

Managing information security in healthcare

Author(s): BOŽIĆ Velibor / Language(s): English Issue: 02/2020

Smart city consists of: waste management, smart energy, education, smart communications, smart transportation, traffic management, smart parking, smart streetlights and smart healthcare. All of these areas require management of information safety. Here, the topic is management of information safety in healthcare. The objective is to show the new approach to management of information safety, which involves all employees in this process. Whether manufacturing or service, public or private, organizations increasingly depend on information and communication technology (ICT). ICT presents in such extent that its users are not even aware of its influence. It is a usual part of any organization. However, the dependence on ICT holds a potential hazard for organization’s performance. Some issues about the ICT safety should be addressed in every organization. First, does the management of an organization is aware of the potential risks and problems in the ICT area, such as potential ICT unavailability (risk culture) or accidental damage? Is there a systematic approach to threat identification, vulnerability exploration, and evaluation of the impact of realized threats on the business? Is an organization aware of the value of ICT, which should be treated in the organization as any other asset influencing business efficiency and effectiveness? Preventive and corrective actions (system of controls) are warranted for mitigating the risk of destruction or abuse of ICT. In this paper, we discuss these questions and suggest possible solutions. There are many works about the topic but these are stressed only one segment in management of information safety. We used case study, observation and structure analysis in our exploration. The results will be presented here. The results will be useful for everybody who is worried about information security in organizations. Value of this paper is showing the need of multidisciplinary approach in management of information safety.