"Demokracija je počela" - demokratski izbori u Općini Bjelovar 1990.

Author(s): Željko Karaula / Language(s): Croatian Issue: 2/2008

The downfall of the communist system in Europe in 1989, during a peoples’ awakening of a kind, was very soon reflected upon the events occurring in Socialist Yugoslavia, where the Yugoslav Communist Union had, until that time, exercised absolute power. Under the pressure of the communist system having fallen down in Eastern Europe, the true power takeover happened in 1990, when – after the introduction of a multi-party system – the Communist Union disappeared from the Croatian political scene. Referring to and based upon articles from local newspapers, publications issued by political parties and other written sources, the author notes how hard the way to democracy had been and indicates to the emergence of political parties in the area of the then Bjelovar Municipality. The paper presents the election results in the Bjelovar area in detail.

"Itt kutatási szabadság van"

Beszélgetés a 60 éves Öllös Lászlóval

Author(s): Eleonóra Sándor,László Öllös / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 3/2017

László Öllös, political philosopher, associate professor, president of the Forum Minority Research Institute speaks about his professional trajectories, the communist regime, events of the 1968 revolution in Czechoslovakia, opposition activities, the Velvet Revolution in 1989, political transition in the CEE countries. He also details his public activities, theoretical and research work focusing on human rights, national rights, ethnic minority rights, constitutional issues, national identity, civil society. Among his special spheres of interest belong issues such as Slovak–Hungarian reconciliation, national division, European identity, political community, constitutional value system.

"Jugoslovanstvo" in mednacionalni odnosi v Jugoslaviji v petdesetih letih 20. stoletja

Author(s): Mateja Režek / Language(s): Slovenian Issue: 2/2005

In her paper, the author deals with the interethnic relations in Yugoslavia and the phenomenon of Yugoslav integralism in the 1950's. This decade saw the resurfacing of the national question, essential for the preservation of Yugoslavia, which had been underestimated and ignored by the communists for over a decade. This attitude was partly rooted in their conviction that the question bad been definitely resolved with the revolution and the formation of a federal slate, and partly in the fear that a reopening of I be national question might provoke internal conflicts and a disintegration of Yugoslavia. Infatuation with workers' internationalism also played its part. In order to smooth over the interethnic differences they recoursed to the magic formula of "brotherhood and unity" to which was added, in the mid 1950's, the promotion of "Yugoslavism" i.e. an attempt to fashion a (super)ethnic, Yugoslav conscience.

"Két otthon között valahol félúton" – Az identitás meghatározása az új migrációban a hollandiai magyarok példáján

Author(s): Szilvia Batyi / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 4/2020

Identity is a complex and dynamic concept as it is composed of many subsystems (e.g. sex, culture, language, social network, etc.) and it can change due to internal (age) or external (change of circumstances) influences. Migration can be considered as an emotional event resulting in identity alteration as it resonates with subsystems. This study focuses on the identity patterns and components of Hungarians who have been migrated to the Netherlands at least seven years prior to data collection. The sample of the study is comprised of 20 participants who have been interviewed and asked to fill in the Social Personal Background questionnaire, which serves as the basis of this study. The results show that almost all of the participants are new emigrants who arrived to the Netherlands at the end of the 20th century and that they are not an integral part of any Hungarian organization, unlike the migrants who arrived pre-1970. However, it is important to note that based on the interviews it is clear that the majority of the participants maintain their Hungarian language and culture and chose integration as an accommodation strategy in their new environment. In their transcultural self, they flexibly select the values and habits from both cultures (Hungarian and Dutch).

"MUSLIM by NATIONALITY" and the upcoming Neo-Ottomanism

Author(s): Ilie Iulian Mitran / Language(s): English Issue: 01/2017

The upcoming years are vital for the stability of the Balkans. The degree in which stability, or the lack thereof, will be present will highly depend on how well aligned are the political elites and intellectuals with the radical ideologies that are surfacing. A very firm act of disownment of radicalism that would come from the elites would raise some red flags among the mainstream society in regard to the danger that such ideologies pose. Even so, we must take into account, that in the case of states of the Balkans, information has more difficulties in reaching people in short time. This is mainly due to the rugged ter-rain, lack of efficient technology and poor infrastructure. The radicalization of Islam can be only perpet-uated through exploiting the weakest points of the local societies, mostly having to do with poverty and the lack opportunities for communal development. Using personal, material, gains as a means of twisting the minds of otherwise peaceful people and drawing them into fundamentalism is a technique that proved to be often efficient in the case of communities that are struggling with poverty. As time will progress, we will see the confrontation between the two Islamic traditions, now present in region, to be more visible, the future stability of the region will also be determined by which will gain the most ground.

"Naš odnos do Italijanov naj bo miren in dostojen, toda nič več". Nekateri vidiki razpetosti med nacionalnim in internacionalnim med slovenskimi komunisti na Primorskem

Author(s): Bojan Godeša / Language(s): Slovenian Issue: 1/2000

The paper deals with the activities of the Slovene communists in Primorska during the Second World War, where the Communist Party of Slovenia often faced the dilemma of how to reconcile the national interests of its struggle with international ones. The most burning issues for the Slovene communists concerned their relations with the Italian population, the status of Trieste and their cooperation with the Communist Party of Italy in Primorska.

"Panslavizem, panslavizem, bi se kričalo od vseh strani!" K zgodovini slovanstva, slovenstva in nemškega strahu pred panslavizmom 1788-1861

Author(s): Marko Zajc / Language(s): Slovenian Issue: 1/2009

The idea of Slavism is inseparably linked with the development of the Slovenian national thought. The use of wider, Slavic notion to surpass provincial and regional borders was present since the very beginning of the Slovenian nationalism which was closely connected with the neighbouring German element. Herders's views on language as the essence of the nation and his praise of Slavs play an important role. At the end of Napoleon's Wars a general fear of Russia overcame Europe. Three different aspects of attitude towards Russia existed in the German-Austrian public: Russia as a reactionary state (internal policy aspect), Russia as a Slavic force (national aspect) and Russia as an expansive force (foreign policy aspect). The Slovenian national movement also operated in this context and had to struggle against being accused of Panslavism and Pro-Russianism from the beginning of its political action.

"Slovenski" prostor na Ogrskem po obnovi ustavnega življenja. Značilnosti (ne)demokratizacije in (ne)pluralizacije na levi strani Mure (1861-1918)

Author(s): Filip Čuček / Language(s): Slovenian Issue: 1/2009

In the following contribution the author analyses the "Slovenian part" of Hungary after the restoration of the constitutional life in the Habsburg Monarchy in the light of democracy and democratisation of society, when nationalism kept increasingly asserting itself in the political life. The author demonstrates that nationalism was far slower to affirm itself among the "Slovenians" on the left bank of the river Mura as among those on the right bank. The link between both banks has existed since the 1860s and was "established" by the Slovenian intellectuals from Carniola and Styria, who were actually only getting to know the people on the other side of Mura. In the time of democratisation, the developments were different in Hungary as in the Austrian part of the Monarchy. If before the turn of the century the Cisleithanian Slovanians acquired certain rights and "transformed" their initial unification policy into a modern plural political party life (in Carniola in the beginning of the 1890s and in Styria after the turn of the century), the "Slovenians" in Hungary have not organised themselves politically until the very dissolution of the double monarchy. Instead they were largely left to the Hungarian national "wave". Only after World War I can we really start talking about the linguistic and cultural unity of the Slovenians from the Prekmurje region with the other Slovenians.

"We are Gypsies, not Roma!" Ethnic Identity Constructions and Ethnic Stereotypes – an example from a Gypsy Community in Central Romania

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

The author of this paper proposes to open a discussion about the terms 'Gypsy' and 'Roma'. The analysis follows the idea that the terms as they are mostly used today in several fields, have a simplifying and homogenizing tendency. Based on a two-month research in a Gypsy community in the Brasov area the author argues that the use of the terms in everyday life varies greatly and their meaning depends on the person and on the situation. The definitions offered by the interviewees rarely correspond to the use of the terms in political and official discourses. Interviews with Gadje and Gypsies evealed the fact that there is a great complexity behind these terms. The paper demonstrates the role of stereotypes and prejudices in defining ethnicity and the everyday strategies of fighting against these stereotypes are also presented.

"Želimo biti enakopravni in enakovredni državljani". Gregorčev predlog jezikovnega zakona za zaščito nacionalnih manjšin iz leta 1899

Author(s): Janez Cvirn / Language(s): Slovenian Issue: 1/2009

Since the beginning of his career as a Member of Parliament, Lavoslav Gregorec from Styria argued for the idea of "national autonomy" in the National Assembly many times, which was to be achieved by adopting an act implementing Article XIX of the Basic Act of 21 December 1867. He argued for the idea of national autonomy in more detail in his speech in the National Assembly on 3 May 1887 and then also on 17 April 1890. He restated his arguments in the time of the extensive "language discussion" in March and April 1898, encouraged by Thun's government. His ideas became more substantial when he prepared a draft "Language Act for the Protection of National Minorities", which he submitted to the National Assembly on 16 December 1899. His proposal was one of the most interesting attempts at solving the linguistic and national issues in the time of mounting national conflicts in Austria.

"Здесь русский дух… здесь Русью пахнет!": Борьбас "русским духом" в Таллине в начале 1920-х гг

Author(s): Aurika Meimre,Antonia Nael / Language(s): Russian Issue: 1/2014

This article is aimed at reconstructing the course of events that resulted in the relocation of a monument of Peter the Great in the capital of Estonia. The bronze standing figure of Peter by Léopold Bernstamm (unveiled in September 1910 to commemorate the bicentennial of the siege of Reval) was removed in April 1922. The reasons for its demolition were mainly ideological: for Estonians Peter the Great symbolized years of suffering under Russian rule. The controversy around Peter the Great attracted Georg Tõnisson (Gori), a graphic artist, who portrayed the czar in a series of caricatures published by Waba Maa and Meie Mats.

"Сви смо ми људи једнаки, а што је неко мало црњи, а неко мало бељи, не мења ствар"

Сексуална педагогија у Србији на крају 19. и почетку 20. века

Author(s): Ana Kolarić / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 2/2012

This essay explores (various cultural and pedagogical discourses of sexuality and sexual conduct. Those discourses were important for the processes of formation of the national state and its “proper” citizens. The analysis tried to prove that many concepts, ideas and knowledge(s) “travelled” from the Western countries to Serbia, where they were appropriated without any changes. To do this, the author has analysed how category of “race” was utilized in the Serbian “conduct books” and women’s magazines. In conclusion, the author pointed out the significance of historical examination of identities, which should help us form more reflexive and critical attitudes towards cultural heritage and traditions.

(Bio)političke strategije rasprave o „mješovitim brakovima" u Ljiljanu 1994. godine

Author(s): Sabina Veladžić / Language(s): Bosnian Issue: 7/2022

In her paper, the author presents an analysis of the debate on „mixed marriages" initiated in June 1994 by Džemaludin Latić, editor-in-chief of the Bosniak national weekly Ljiljan. The research focus of the paper, however, is not on „mixed marriages" as a „phenomenon of socialist past "but on discourse in Ljiljan as a linguistically constructed social reality/past that is produced through discussion. That discourse aimed at creating a new narrative and ideological basis far group bonding, i. e. at completing the process of national homogenization. Media elite gathered around Ljiljan was part of the Bosniak political elite - that emerged during the „ democratization " period in the late 1980s and early 1990s - which shaped political paradigm of „ the new ethnonational order " and in that sense Ljiljan represented „ideological apparatus" of post-socialist political and social power structures. Main feature of the discourse produced in Ljiljan, through the bitter dispute with Oslobodjenje, newspaper which narratively and ideologically shaped reality in the socialist period, was dramatic revision and simplified stigmatic presentation of the socialist past, victimization of Bosniak nation, and stigmatic collective categorizations of Others. Discussion in Ljiljan was aimed at defining and pointing at both the external and internal enemy of the Bosniak nation, with the latter being represented by those who were considered to be the carriers of the ideological values of the overthrown socialist system. They were to be isolated within the new political order, silenced and pushed towards the social margins, and the values from the social past were re-evalueted and proclaimed to be lie and illusion. Thus, the Interna! Others included m embers of „mixed marriages" who, with their „multicultural" matrimonial association, were perceived as the ones that violated symbolic boundaries of traditional Islamic collective identity. The Serbs were, on the other hand, defined as the main External Other, and this collective categorization included even those who remained 1992-1995 in besieged Sarajevo, and they were, as well, equated with Chetniks and Communists through discussion in Ljiljan. it is important to stress that the debate in Ljiljan was marked by strong ideological repulsion toward the secularism and civic conceptions, especially European secularism, which relied on the Christian cultural tradition as hegemonic. Source of the hostility and animosity far the main political and social protagonists of the recent socialist past was in the personal traumatic experience of the Young Muslim Group, since 1 990 new political elite, which went through the rigged Sarajevo process in 1983, as well as in their ideological repulsion toward the modernization and secularization processes of transformation through which Bosniaks and Bosniak family passed during socialist period. Since the debate erupted in the war year 1994, which was preceded by dense period of brutal violence, concentration camps, mass rapes, and the passivity of European diplomacy towards all these horrific happenings, the author believes that all mentioned contributed to the radicalization of discourse in the national media and that, also, suffered violence was misused by the media and new political elite in order to complete the process of homogenization of the Bosniak collective on the basis of the exclusive ideology of „cultural fundamentalism". The author also shows that Džemaludin Latić, Ljiljan's editor-in-chief, tried to use the discussion to encourage the restoration of institutional power and control of the Islamic Community over the matrimonial union of members of national and cultural collective. Namely, within the patriarchal discourse in Ljiljan, the „monocultural matrimonial union" was perceived as a framework within which the Bosniak national society should be revived and renewed on the basis of Islamic traditional and cultural principles. Within the private sphere, woman as mother played a key role in the process of primary socialization and therefore the focus of a significant part of the discussion within Ljiljan was on her body and life and her responsibility far the postwar biological and cultural revival of the collective. Therefore, the ban on mixed marriages applied primarily to her, Bosniak/Muslim woman. This in fact presented a biopolitical strategy that stood behind the discussion, focused on the bare lives of national subjects, ie. on their subjectivization and socialization within the new political order. Political and social protagonists of that order wanted to ensure „ valid " biological, cultural and ideological reproduction of the new political system and therefore permanent legitimacy of their political, social and economic power. This could be achieved only by directing collective identity self-understanding of national subjects through the monoperspective culture of remembrance and through their social and cultural practices.

(Ne)istorinis istorinio Atgimimo laikotarpio tyrimas

Author(s): Tomas Vaitelė / Language(s): Lithuanian Issue: 46/2020

Review of: Tomas Vaitelė - Rec.: Anna Mikonis-Railienė, Renata Šukaitytė, Mantas Martišius, Renata Stonytė, Politinis lūžis ekrane: (po)komunistinė transformacija Lietuvos dokumentiniame kine, videokronikoje ir televizijoje, Vilnius: Vilniaus universiteto leidykla, 2020.

(NE)ZABORAVLJENA PROŠLOST

Author(s): Damir Kukić / Language(s): Bosnian Issue: 3/2022

Culture of remembrance is a concept distinguished from history and ideology, but these three often permeate one another and are inseparable. For the ruling elites to evoke past times and create narratives are processes that are typical for modern state (national) ideologies. Such narratives are often related to the myths that portray and describe important events in the history of one nation. The analysis of such narratives found in the Western Balkans countries shows that a great number of images and events from past are now forgotten and that the people of this region mostly remember only those symbols that forecast unpleasant and threatening future.

(RE)SHAPING POLITICAL CULTURE AND PARTICIPATION THROUGH SOCIAL NETWORKS

Author(s): Marija Andreeva / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2019

The influence of social networks is growing intensely. They do not only influence only certain aspects of our lives, but they also influence political participation and political culture. In recent years, this influence has been very notable. We have seen a change of policies as a result of pressure, a lot of significant political movements started via social networks. This paper concentrates on the influence of social networks on political participation and political culture. The paper tries to foresee the future implications and the intertwining of social networks and political culture and political participation. It also gives conclusions for the past, present and future implications and it gives a comparison between political participation before and after the rise of social networks. It also analyses the positive and negative implications that social network could have on political participation.

(Stief-)Mütterchen Russland - Projektionen und Mental Maps von Russland in Serbien

Author(s): Nenad Stefanov / Language(s): German Issue: 02/2019

The article discusses the so-called “traditional Russian-Serbian friendship”. This relationship between the two states is assessed as an “invention of tradition”. The contribution examines changes in Serbian society during the 1990s which brought about a new turn towards Russia. In the mental maps that had emerged in the context of new ethno-nationalism during the late1980s, the West had initially been central and served as evidence of an allegedly original love of freedom on the part of the Serbian people. This map stood in contrast to the other republics of former Yugoslavia that were seemingly “infested” by the Vatican and Germanophilia. The experience of sanctions imposed on Serbia in 1992 and the refusal to reflect on this experience led to a re-orientation of existing mental maps. The fixation on Russia had the function to spare individuals the question of responsibility for crisis and war. Even today, this mental map serves as a relieving function in Serbia and it is increasingly coming to the fore.

(Un)doing Polishness: Negotiation of Ethnic Belonging in Personal Narratives about Karta Polaka

Author(s): Olga Sasunkevich / Language(s): English Issue: 03/2021

The article is based on a qualitative study of how Polishness is constructed in personal narratives about Karta Polaka (the Polish Card, Polish Charter). The interviews with possessors of the Polish Card, a document issued by the Polish state to the citizens of the former USSR identifying themselves as Poles, was conducted in 2015 in the city of Hrodna in western Belarus. The article uses the example of Karta Polaka to show how people who apply for the Polish Card perceive, negotiate, and reconstruct the idea of Polishness that this document implies. The author suggests that the demand for Karta Polaka among citizens of Belarus cannot be explained by ethnic opportunism entirely. Pragmatic and symbolic reasoning to apply for the document often overlap. Moreover, as the author argues, Karta Polaka evokes the process of negotiating ethnic belonging among participants of the study. The article departs from the theoretical standpoint that ethnic belonging is neither merely a matter of individual choice nor a passive absorption of ethnic discourses produced by states, laws, or ethnic entrepreneurs. Combining the premises of performative and dialogical approaches to identity construction, the author shows empirically which discourses influence people’s sense of ethnic belonging and how these discourses are negotiated in their personal stories.

(حركات اإلسالم السياسي والسلطة في المنطقة العربية بعد 2011 ( مصر انموذجا

Author(s): Muhammed Salih / Language(s): Arabic Issue: 1/2018

Some Arab countries, starting from 2011, witnessed a sequence of peaceful protesting demonstrations which the western media called the term (Arab Spring). But the new reality resulting from this, in its early stages up to 2013 represented an opportunity for the Islamic powers to show and disorder at the same time. Because these powers participated in the events of protesting and the peaceful an armed confrontation and pushed the Islamic political trend in general and the Ikhwan trend (Muslim Brothers) in particular to the field of the political work and experience the public party work, after being deprived, like many political movements in the Arab countries, from public legal political activity.

,,Дијалектичка равнотежа’’ институционалног система ЕУ у области спољног представљања: фикција или реалност?

Author(s): Dejana Vukčević / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 4/2012

Dans cet article, l’auteur s’efforce d’analyser l’identité institutionnelle de l’UE en matière de la représentation extérieure. Malgré la tentative proclamée d’une plus grande cohérence et de l’efficacité dans le domaine extérieur de l’UE, le traité de Lisbonne crée une image institutionnelle complexe dans laquelle une représentation extérieure unique de l’UE est difficile. Cela est dû au fait qu’il y a un grand nombre d’acteurs et une confusion quant à la compétence dans le domaine de l’action extérieure de l’Union. Le nouveau traité demeure prisonnier d’un mélange hybride des logiques intergouvernementale et supranationale qui se caractérise par un manque de clarité des rôles des institutions prévus par le traité. L’article est divisé en deux parties. Dans la première partie, l’auteur analyse la nouvelle identité institutionnelle de l’UE dans le domaine de l’action extérieure. Dans la deuxième partie, l’auteur traite l’application des dispositions istituionnelles, marquée des tensions permanentes pour le contrôle des positions de pouvoir. Cela est dû à des dispositions vagues et imprécises du traité de Lisbonne laissаnt aux Etats membres et aux institutions une grande marge de manœuvre quant à l’interprétation de leurs compétences. L’auteur conclut que la pluralité d’acteurs dans ce domaine témoigne d’un compromis du traité de Lisbonne quant à l’allocation du leadeship politique dans le cadre de l’UE. Pour cette raison, il est difficle d’établir un équilibre entre les intérêts des Etats membres et des institutions dans la consolidation postLisbonne en matière de représentation extérieure ce qui n’est pas sans répercussions quant à la visibilité de l’UE sur la scène internationale.