Around the Bloc - Czech PM Babis Joins Opposition to UN Migration Pact
Centrist Czech government aligns with right-wing Central European critics of the non-binding agreement.
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Centrist Czech government aligns with right-wing Central European critics of the non-binding agreement.
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Some of the biggest challenges states in the Western Balkans are facing since the end of the Cold War are non-traditional security threats. Although recent studies have argued that “history has returned” and that traditional security threats have come back to become core challenges for states, authors of this paper argue that due to geopolitical, political, economic and cultural factors, the states in the region suffer more from non-traditional or “soft security” rather than “hard security” threats. In this paper, the authors are focused on two of such threats: organized crime and terrorism. The region of the Western Balkans is quite vague and imprecise as a concept, and for the purpose of this paper, we use the term to refer to the former Yugoslavia, excluding Slovenia and Croatia and including Albania. Two methodological approaches are used: discourse analysis and semi-structured interviews. The paper consists of three parts. The first part deals with the theoretical and conceptual change of security in the Western Balkans by focusing on key security challenges which the states are facing. In the second part, the paper identifies main contemporary threats, focusing on two most significant threats: transnational organized crime and terrorism. In the third part, the paper analyses alternative approaches that these states can use to overcome these security threats.
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The aim of the article is to show how in Italy the traditional inequalities in class, gender and geography have been matched by an inequality linked to immigration, whose causes, forms and social consequences I will analyse here. In so doing I will underline how such inequality linked to immigration is an integral part of the system of social inequalities existing at global level and in particular it is part of the globalization of inequality linked to immigration.Over the last few decades, there has been a deep social transformation at world level which has changed the system of inequalities; new inequalities were created, among which, the inequality linked to immigration is rather important. Historically, this is certainly nothing new, yet we are witnessing a globalization of inequality linked to immigration, which refers to disparities and social advantages that affect immigrant populations and citizens with migratory background. This phenomenon has several causes, but it is mainly due to two elements: the systematic use by several countries of an exploited and stigmatised migrant workforce, kept in a condition of social inferiority and with half the rights of the rest of the population; the globalisation of selective, restrictive and repressive immigration policies. Such process is quite visible in Italy, where inequality based on immigration is the result of the combined action of labour market, legal system, and mass media, which have pursued rationales, which led to the social inferiority and segregation of immigrants. Such inequality involved specific generative mechanisms such as the selection, precarisation and differential exploitation of migrant workers, the creation of a special legislation, the systematic stigmatisation of immigrant populations in the public discourse, the comeback of the rhetoric of assimilation. Such inequality is multidimensional as, from work to health, from living to education, from public images to legal conditions, it affects all aspects of the social life of immigrants; and it is a challenge to social citizenship.
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Awareness of the complexity of the interaction between the army and society led to the creation of a number of modern concepts of interpretation of this interaction. In the most general logical and epistemological analysis of these concepts can be divided into two major classes: first class – attribute concepts that focus on the army as an attribute of society; second grade – relational concepts that focus on the interaction between the army and society in terms of relations elementary and complex communicative level. The attribute concepts, in turn, can be divided into systemic and structural and functional, synergistic, instrumental power and potential and volitional concept. Systemic and structural and functional concepts are associated with the identification of a complex systemic structure of society, that is, the aggregate of relations between the elements of the whole, preserving their stability under various kinds of transformations and changes and determining the role and place of each element, its functions in the life activity of this system (structure). Synergetic concept focuses on cooperative, coherent and self-consistent processes that occur in complex nonlinear systems, updates the first such aspects as self- organization, non-linearity, openness, fluctuations dissipative structures, structure-attractors and others. Instrumental and power concept focuses on methods of mass society and achieve social outcomes. This approach is instrumental function updates the army and army considers the nature of the interaction of society and in view of the power functions of the army, the need to ensure its normal functioning of society. Potentially and willed concept out of primate volitional component in the analysis of the interaction of the army and society.The relational concepts of interaction between the army and society interpret this process through the prism of social relations. Within the framework of the relational approach, behavioral, integrationist, communicative and poststructuralist concepts are distinguished. Behavioral concepts reduce the whole variety of the process of interaction between the army and society to the relations between them at the macro-, meso- and micro- levels. Interactions concept of considering the whole process of interaction between the army and the society as a special relationship, which act as a way to share resources between the subjects of social action or asymmetric interactions with the change of actors, roles in the distribution of zones of influence, as well as a kind of «stabilizer» in the total system of social relations, which provides a means of conflict management that constantly arise over the distribution and redistribution of material, human and other resources, social harmony and political consensus. Communication concept considering the process of interaction between the military and society as a hierarchic and multiply mediated mechanism of communication between the actors of social reality that is unfolding in the social field and space communications. Poststructuralist conception of the process under consideration army interaction and society, not just as the relationship of subjects, as well as a kind of modality of communication, that is, «long-term relationship», impersonal because his subjects are in every moment to stress the lines and proportions of mutual forces that are constantly changing .These concepts reflect different approaches to the analysis of the interaction between the army and society, identify trends and principles of cooperation, possible ways of harmonization within the dominant pattern of a concept. However, the holistic concept of interaction between the army and society can be created only examined the characteristics of this interaction in all spheres of life (economic, social, political and spiritual).
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A soccer team for Roma kids in the Czech town of Neratovice has boosted school attendance and given the players a wider field of play
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Jakob Volčič (1815—1888), a Slovene priest who lived in Croatian part of lstria, published in Slovenian journals, especially in the central journal Novice, data on folk traditions and life of Croats in lstria. His work can be categorized in two groups: 1. publications of folklore material (language, literature, customs and games, and folk beliefs); 2. descriptions of inter-ethnic relations which included data on economic and social position of Slavs (Croats and Slovenes), and their relation with governing non-Slavs (Italians). Volčič’s understanding of folk traditions and life in lstria is determined by two major values: nationality and piety. His perception of folk life is also manifested in two ways: on one hand, by collecting folklore he searched for Slovene national spirit (being influenced by romanticism); on the other hand, by adding realistic comments to collected folk proverbs, he pointed to social context and some basic truths of folk life at the time. (For instance, the proverb: »The Sun shines on Saturdays for the poor ones« is followed by Volčič’s comment »...so that they can wash their clothes for Sunday« — underlined by J. F.)
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Prikaz/The review of: Robin Okey, Taming Balkan Nationalism. The Habsburg ‘Civilizing Mission’ in Bosnia, 1878-1914, Oxford 2007
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The paper deals with an important segment of the policy of neutral Turkey during the World War II its policy regarding the minorities that, with its tightening, aggravated the position of the non Muslim communities. Among various repressive measures, the special tax varlik vergisi, introduced in November 1942, is especially significant. Under the pretext of preventing making illegal profits, tax liabilities much higher than those imposed on the majority population were imposed on Greek, Armenian and Jewish businessmen, both Turkish citizens and foreigners. Failure to settle these liabilities within short deadlines would result in seizure of property, internment and forced labour in remote areas. The official justification of this openly xenophobic measure provided by the authorities and their media reflected the influence of the ideas that were coming from the Axis countries and were supported by some in Turkey, including a part of the political elite. The author considers this phenomenon in the light of war events and the position of Turkey as a neutral country, focusing on its relations with the exiled Greek government and the UK.
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In this paper, the author analyzes the key stages in the development of the Republic of Srpska, since its formation in 9 January 1992. In this context, it elaborates the process of genesis of the Republic of Srpska, its international verification by the Dayton Peace Agreement, post-conflict consolidation as a process of trial of the constitutional reform in Bosnia and Herzegovina that would redistribute responsibilities between the entity and state authorities. However, the paper points out that the Republic of Serbian unquestionable categories and that the current attempt by the U.S. and the EU for the amendment of the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina did not imply denial of two-entity structure of the state. In the future, how would you rate the author will attempt leading actors in world politics to redesign the institutional framework at the level of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as to strengthening its negotiating capacity to assume the obligations related to membership of the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
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In this article the author analyses the institutional attempts to change national identity of the Serb people in Bosnia & Herzegovina in XIX and XX century. It is emphasized that every great war, conquest and occupation in the contemporary Bosnian-Herzegovian history were followed by imposing some sort of common identity to the national communities in B&H, including Serb people, and that it could be said that the attempts to suffocate and, more-less, violently change the identity of the Serbs, are as old as the modern national identity of this part of Serb nation – invading rulers of Bosnia & Herzegovina had invested great efforts to suppress national consciousness of the Serbs while it was still in the early stages of its development, and national awakening of the Serbs was, at the same time, followed by rough imposing of the alternative Bosnian identity. However, all these attempts to create common identities as ways to achieve stability and secure coexistence have had, for the most part, adverse effects and have led to the creation of even greater gap between peoples in B&H and further deepening of interethnic differences and animosities.
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This work discusses the historical struggle of Serbian people in Bosnia and Herzegovina for the autonomous freedom, through numerous rebellions and uprisings in the 19th century, such as rebellions and uprisings of Serbs in Šumadija. After its success in Serbia under the rule of Miloš Obrenović, Serbs’ struggle for the autonomous freedom in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the last period of the Ottoman and later Austro-Hungarian authority was a “categorical imperative of Serbian selfdefence”. Resistance to foreign occupiers in Bosnia and Herzegovina was repeated after the disintegration of Yugoslavia in 1991, with the struggle for the autonomous freedom in the Republic of Srpska, for its achievements, challenges and perspectives. On both of these occasions, Serbian people remained and fought for their freedom and unity in the community with other nations. On both of these occasions, destiny and outcome of this successful struggle with opponents were earlier in hands of great powers and later in hands of powerful states. Their earlier and later attitudes towards Serbs were different. Compared to Bulgarians and Bulgaria, or Cretans and Crete, after whose uprisings the great powers awarded them the autonomy, they only promised the same to Serbs while some of them opposed it and corrupted, up until the end of the First World War. It was similar with the struggle of Serbs in Bosnia and Herzegovina for freedom in the achieved Republic of Srpska, up until the United States of America took Bosnia and Herzegovina in its own hands. The States, in cooperation with the Contact Group members, ended the civil war in Bosnia and Herzegovina at the meeting in Dayton in the USA in 1995, while at the same time legitimising the Republic of Srpska within the two-entity Bosnia and Herzegovina.
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In this article the author analyses the relation between war and national identity in the case of the Serbs in the Republic of Srpska and the role that the civil war in B&H, in the period from 1992-1995, have had in the shaping of their national consciousness.It is emphasized that the biggest part of the history of the Serbs in Bosnia and Herzegovina had been marked by numerous wars against foreign occupiers and centuries spent under the governance of foreign powers, which, beyond doubt, have had a strong influence on the Serb national identity. However, the author believes that the role of the civil war in B&H in the affirmation of the national identity of the Serbs in this region is specific when compared to the wars that happened before it; this war has created ethnic and territorial divisions in B&H, which had never existed in this region, and which have had a huge impact on the national identities of all peoples in Bosnia and Herzegovina, including Serbs who live in the Republic of Srpska; apart from that, the most powerful countries in the Western civilisation have had important media, political, and military role in the war, which had a profound impact on the Serb community.
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The crisis of identity is the underlying hallmark of the contemporary era. It is not confined to the question of the individual but also applies to a more politically serious problem. After the breakup of Yugoslavia and the interethnic and civil war, the newly established political entities were faced with ongoing and parallel processes of reverting to the form of collective identity as well as the formulating new facets of national and political identities. These aspects denote an intentionally conceived selfdetermination in the face of impending challenges. In this paper, emphasis is placed on the role of mass media in terms of identifycation and self-identification of people, social groups, political communities, and the promotion of political values and goals as well as the encouragement of behavioral patterns concerning mediated political initiateves
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Being located at the crossroads of Asia, Europe and Africa, connecting Middle East, the Balkans and the Caucasus along with its historical legacy of the Ottoman Empire, Turkey plays an important role in the regional and global politics, and determines its foreign policy accordingly. The Justice and Development Party (AKP) led by Erdogan with Islamic ideological background entered in Turkish politics in 2001, got victory in the elections of 2002, and since then hitherto ruled the country. The AKP government’s foreign policy followed ‘zero problem’ and ‘strategic depth’ principles with Turkish vicinity. Turkish-Syrian interactions had begun in the 8th century under Umayyad caliphate. The Turks gradually occupied higher ranks in Umayyad state and settled down on the territories today called-Syria. During Seljuk time, Turks captured Syria which it replaced with Mamluks. The Ottomans regained sovereignty in Syria in the 16th century, which continued until the end of First World War. Then, Turkish-Syrian relations developed as mandate shaped by France. Since then, there have been some conflicting issues affecting Turkish-Syrian relations such as the Hatay (Sanjak) issue, water sharing issue. During Syria’s independence in 1936, Turkey demanded Hatay’s independence too, which was denied by France. On the eve of Second World War in 1939, Hatay was ceded to Turkey. Since then, it has become an issue of conflict. The water sharing has also been another issue of debate. Concerning security issues, both countries are situated on opposite sides. Syria supported the PKK, which Ankara regarded as a terrorist group operating against Turkey. This hostile attitude gradually changed under AKP’s soft foreign policy towards Syria. Potential Kurdish state risk after the Iraq war and common security perceptions after 9/11 compelled both countries to adopt collective security measures. Assad’s visit to Turkey and Erdogan’s visit to Damascus in 2004 was a milestone for the prospect of Turkish-Syrian relations. Syria cancelled support to the PKK and recognized Hatay as an integral part of Turkey. The economic relations also bloomed as the trade volume reached $1.844 billion in 2010. Regional and military cooperation agreements were signed. Bilateral relations entered into a new phase with the removal of visa requirements between the countries in 2009. All these positive developments were challenged with the mass protest against Assad regime with the emergence of the Arab Spring. Turkey, from the beginning warned Assad to stop violence and undertake democratic reforms and tried to negotiate between the Assad regime and the opposition. But Syria responded negatively rather blaming Turkey for interfering with Syria’s internal affairs. Consequently, Turkey criticized Syria publicly and finally gave its support to the opposition and thus the AKP government’s foreign policy towards Syria got a shift. Indeed, several geo-political-strategic-economic and regional-international perspectives and perceptions have driven Turkey to shift its policy towards Syria. This article is exclusively aimed at discovering the factors which prompted Turkey to shift its policy towards Syria during the crises caused by the Arab Spring. It will also include the nature and historical developments of Turkish-Syrian relations with a view to understanding the driving factors behind this shifting policy.
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The important, interesting, or just downright quirky news from TOL’s coverage region. Today: Xi’s visit to Russia; riot in Bosnian migrant center; Bulgaria buys U.S. jets; Slovenian hatmaking; Lithuanian baby race.
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Dramatic announcement could boost Petro Poroshenko’s standing days before the presidential runoff.
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The 1999 bombing campaign brought an end to Milosevic’s brutal rule in Kosovo, at a high cost in human life.
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The first part of the study focuses on the establishment and operation of the Government Council of the SSR for Nationalities (minorities) and the changes that took place in the Council in the 1970s. The second part of the study deals with issues of higher education for minorities in the SR through the materials of the Government Council of the SSR for Nationalities during this period. The Government Council of the SSR for Nationalities was an advisory body. Its role was to professionally review the materials and decisions submitted to the Government, to participate in the preparation of laws and measures of the Government concerning nationalities, and to submit to the Government and its bodies initiatives for the management of the economic, social and cultural life of nationalities. The preparation of materials was provided through standing working committees, temporary working groups and the expertise of research and science institutes. The first Council meetings indicated a more positive intent towards their work. However, their later activity was marked by Normalization. Thus, expectations of the Government Council of the SSR for Nationalities were not fulfilled. It was originally expected that the Council and their standing and temporary committees would be comprehensively and systematically preparing measures to address minority problems, initiate solutions, legislative standards, and so on. However, the Council gradually became the official appendage of the Normalization mechanism of power. In October 1971, changes were made to the composition of the Government Council of the SSR for Nationalities, following previous Normalization resolutions passed by the Communist Party bodies. A notable change was that the new Council composition reflected new Normalization tendencies. People who had been in some way discredited in the previous periods, primarily for political reasons resulting in occupation by Warsaw Pact troops in 1968, were removed. Regarding the further activities of the Council, changes were brought about by the Normalization process. The Council's activities were limited to a formal, bureaucratic mechanism for reviewing reports on the development of individual nationally mixed regions. The Council completely stopped the development of legislative standards and the anticipated further regulations to further develop the Act on Nationalities.
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This paper investigates the cooperation of the Mulim and Orthodox population during the Austro-Hungarian occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the period from 1878 to 1879. By decision of the Berlin Congress (1878), Austro-Hungarian Empire obtained the right to occupy Bosnia and Herzegovina. Despite the fact that Montenegro gained the independence and significant territorial expansion, it was difficult to accept loosing the ares that it had liberated together with the Herzegovinian rebels. On the other hand, the Muslim population, both in Bosnia and Herzegovina, did not accept the new governence. This motivated cooperation of the former enemies against the Austro-Hungarian authorities. However, Montenegro was in a very specific situation. The Vienna government gave the ultimatum to Cetinje to renounce its pretensions in Herzegovina. Therefore, Prince Nikola had to enforce the resereved policy, in oder to avoid political and economic implications that could result from the conflict with the powerful neighbour. Nevertheless, the Herzegovinian rebels and prominent Muslims were expecting a help from Cetinje. Montenegro secretly helped the rebels even after the uprising was suppressed in 1878, and also provided help for the uprising in 1882. Both the Orthodox and Muslim population have found refuge in Montenegro.
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