Transitions Online_Around the Bloc - 25 September
TOL’s regional news roundup: Pashinyan in LA; Thomas Cook in Bulgaria; street art in South Ossetia; and Udmurtia’s identity crisis.
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TOL’s regional news roundup: Pashinyan in LA; Thomas Cook in Bulgaria; street art in South Ossetia; and Udmurtia’s identity crisis.
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Opposition groups in Central Europe must get over their inhibitions about populist methods.
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The far-right view has become a characteristic feature of European politics in recent years.With the increase in the waves of immigration, the extremist right-wing parties; which are also known as radical right; set up their policies on anti-immigration under the influence of populism and increased their votes. In this study, the current status of far-right in France will be examined. The increasing influence of extreme right in France will be examined with a detailed analysis of this ideology as well as the concepts forming it.
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Shahnameh of Abu’l Qasim Ferdowsi is the common heritage of the peoples of Iran and Central Asia. Iran attaches special importance to culture and cultural diplomacy. The Iranians use the Shahnameh as a means of soft power in their relations with the Central Asian republics. Two centers opened in the region by the Iranians were named after Ferdowsi. Iranians have managed to organize about 30 various events in Shahnameh in the Central Asian Republics. Iran desires to regain the position of cultural leadership in Central Asia which it had enjoyed in ancient times. In line with this goal, Shahnameh serves as an important tool in Iran’s cultural diplomacy
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In this paper, I have elaborated the phenomenon of state affiliation as a form of transnational identification of national community members in Bosnia and Herzegovina. On the political agenda in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the individual does not function as a citizen but exclusively as a member of ethnic identity, which significantly slows down reintegration processes. A multiethnic being of Bosnia and Herzegovina is appropriate for symbiosis of national and republican models of political community in which the republican model refers to citizenship focused on the political community,which transcends ethnic and religious identities. The symbiosis of the two models would affirm patriotism of national communities towards the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as the participation of individuals (citizens) in the political life of Bosnia and Herzegovina. On the plan of building the transnational identity in Bosnia and Herzegovina it is necessary to make a distinction between ethnic and political identity. Switzerland represents the paradigm of transnational identification of the members of different national communities in which the sense of shared participation is an expression of patriotism towards the common state. In this paper I have also elaborated assumptions of loyalty of members of national communities in Bosnian society and state, among which are: Bosnia’s accession to the European Union, affirmation of education for democracy, coexistence and tolerance, building trust and shared values among members of national communities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, forming a nation as a political community.
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The social world, created by culture, norm, knowledge, ideology and ideas, affects the identity of states and the latter forms interests of states and ultimately their actions. The social norms that form the Iranian identity dominate the actions of the Islamic Republic of Iran. In this sense, Mahdism, one of the most important corner stones of Iranian identity,plays an important role in the construction of this identity. The Islamic Republic of Iran securitizes countries such as Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Pakistan and Afghanistan by using the Mahdi discourse and tries to justify taking urgent measures in these countries. That the most of Zaydis in Yemen follow the Husi family and adopted some Iranian customs and rituals, and thus diverged from the Arab identity, are the subjects of agent-structure debate of the constructivism.
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An idea born in the mid-nineteenth century, great expositions were meant to provide a survey of human progress in the fields of science, technology, education, and culture, by way of peaceful competition. In East Central Europe, by the turn of the century expositions were rather used to illuminate the predominance of the state nation within a multinational empire, or the achievements of a national movement striving for cultural autonomy and political independence. After 1918 with their national independence achieved, Poland and Czechoslovakia celebrated their sovereignty with huge national exhibitions that were intended to epitomize the utopia of a national state within a region characterised by large percentages of ethnic minorities. The paper introduces four expositions (Prague 1891, Posen/Poznań 1911, Brno 1928 and Poznań 1929), focussing on the intentions of their respective organisers, and exposition politics within the framework of minority and state policies, local and central politics, as well as the shaping of national consciousness and identities.
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Although the last legislative elections in Israel indicate a strong desire for political change, the Israeli voter is still very much aware of the position of Israel on the current international scene. The Peace Plan for Israel and Palestine proposed by the Trump administration, on the one hand, alienated even more the Palestinian Authority, and on the other hand, ignored European Union’s willingness to become a more relevant global actor by not involving it in the development of the Plan. Regardless the results of the future presidential elections in the United States, it is important to understand up to which extent should the European Union get involved in order to prevent potential negative outcomes of the Peace Plan. Starting from this context, the research aims at outlining the current dynamics and narratives governing the relations between the European Union, as a global actor, and Israel, as a regional actor in the Middle East, including here the global implications of the events in this region.
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In Germany, the loss of power of the German Social Democratic Party (SPD) after 2000's is discussed. There are approaches that explain the crisis of social democracy in Germany, within the context of the SPD, as the party became a status quo in the field of economy, alienated from Marxist programs and harmonized with neo-liberalism. Christian Democratic Union presented Christian Democratic Union (CDU/CSU) with the issue of dual citizenship instead of socioeconomic promises as a coalition requirement after 2013. “Social Democratic Party evolved into identity based party” idea will be put forward in the study considering the factors mentioned above. The thesis of the study that Christian Democratic Union policies alienated social democrats from the party will be discussed and analyzed by party discourse and voting rates.
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Review of the book "Framing the Nation and Collective Identities: Political Rituals and Cultural Memory of the Twentieth-Century Traumas in Croatia" by Vjeran Pavlaković and Davor Pauković
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In general, the struggle of secularism today is directed against two enemies: against the traditional enemy, namely the Catholic Hydra, which is accused of continuing to pursue its work of the spiritual and moral conquest or reconquest of society in countless facets; and against the new enemy, namely openly (and sometimes in degrading) Islam under attack. (At this point, a third enemy could be named: the sects against which the secular state has been officially fighting for about a decade.)
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The Balkans and South Caucasia (Eurasia Minor) consists of countries and regions that are considered by representative investigations on the country level as some of the last strongholds of patriarchy compared to the rest of Europe, Russia not included. Astonishingly enough, comparative studies of gender relations in Eurasia Minor are rare. My study attempts to shed some fresh light on the stagnant debate on the remarkable regression in gender equality in the region in the first two decades of post-socialism and in post-Kemalism. In doing so, I believe that discussing gender relations, femininities, and masculinities in the digital era is no longer feasible without including the wide and thriving field of digital visuality. My overall conclusion is that the period of re-traditionalization in the “wild 1990s” and not so wild 2000s was a temporal one and has started to fade out in the 2010s at the latest. The conflicting antagonism of porno-chic and veiling-chic is also in a phase of fading out; this is caused by, among other things, the powerful dynamics digital visuality offers to both camps.1
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In recent years, scholarly interest in boundaries and boundary work, on the one hand, and borders and bordering, on the other, has flourished across disciplines. Notwithstanding the close relationship between the two concepts, “borders” and “boundaries” have largely been subject to separate scholarly debates, or sometimes treated as synonymous. These trends point to an important lack of conceptual and analytical clarity as to what borders and boundaries are and are not, what distinguishes them from each other and how they relate to each other. This Special Issue tackles this conceptual gap by bringing the two fields of studies together: we argue that boundaries/boundary work and borders/bordering should be treated as interrelated rather than distinct phenomena. Boundaries produce similarities and differences that affect the enforcement, performance and materialisation of borders, which themselves contribute to the reproduction of boundaries. Borders and boundaries are entangled, but they promote different forms and experiences of inclusion and exclusion. In this introduction, we elaborate the two concepts separately before examining possible ways to link them theoretically. Finally, we argue that an intersectional perspective makes it possible to establish how the interplay of different social categories affects the articulations and repercussions of borders and boundaries. The contributions in this Special Issue address this issue from multiple perspectives that reflect a variety of disciplines and theoretical backgrounds and are informed by different case studies in Europe and beyond.
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In this article the author analyzes the main documents adopted by the Kremlin administration in the last decade: the National Security Strategy of the Russian Federation until 2020 (2009), Military Doctrine(2014), the National Security Strategy of 2015. The main objective of these documents is the Moscow`s desire to be recognized as a great world power, which posseses the necessary capabilities to ensure strategic stability worldwide.
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W 2014 roku, w trakcie badań terenowych pośród boliwijskich Indian Moré1 , przytrafi ła mi się sytuacja dość nietypowa dla studiów etnografi cznych w tym regionie. Okazało się, że nagle zaczynam konkurować z tubylcami o informatorów. Byłem świadkiem, jak dwoje Indian Moré zostało zmotywowanych do przeprowadzania badań w roli tubylczych antropologów, w ramach swoistej anthropology at home. W niniejszym raporcie przedstawiam, jak doszło do tej ciekawej sytuacji, związanej z utworzeniem w 2014 roku Instytutu Języka i Kultury (Instituto de Lengua y Cultura) Indian Moré (dalej: ILC Moré), ukazuję kontekst powołania tej instytucji oraz jej konsekwencje.
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The article is based on participatory observation and semi-structured interviews conducted in 2012 with young Kashubs (aged 16-25). The research carried out has combined a cultural (anthropological) and a sociolinguistic viewpoints. The language policy not only concerns important bottom-down acts and laws established by the state and by minority activists, but is also based on people’s everyday practices, such as their choice of language. This is why activists responsible for the minority language policy should make use of the ethnographic methodology which would make the minority members the subject of the research. Their experiences related with using the minority language, attitudes toward their language and culture can be an important component and indicator for policy decision-makers. This article presents the statements of young Kashubs referring to their culture and language, difficult experiences related to the prohibition of speaking Kashubian, and the language shift which emerged with the coming into force of the Act on National and Ethnic Minorities and the Regional Language. The teaching of the Kashubian language in schools is one of the most important achievements of the language policy – although, in the opinion of young people, it is a challenge. Young Kashubs tell about the decisions they took concerning their language and what motivated them to use the language of their ancestors. They speak about their attitude towards the Kashubian culture and its stereotypical, folkloristic image.
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This article treats dilemmas after Albania dictatorship. After the overthrow of communism everything was covered with the slogan “All victims, all guilty.” In these cases, more important than punishment,but also reparation, is the word of justice that defines publicly the responsibilities of each of the protagonists and defines the respective sites of the aggressor and the victim in relation to a fair distance. Can be forgiven one who does not accept his guilt? Should be offended one who forgives? Can someone forgive himself? We are still in time to face these existential questions in order to create a life worthy of living.
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The objective of the article hereto is to present the mechanisms of the memory rights’ protection within the Strasbourg system, based upon the literal resonance of the European Convention of Human Rights and judicial practice of the European Court of Human Rights. Such topic will be subjected to analysis through the legal-dogmatic method which relies upon the construction of the concrete provisions of the Convention as well as jurisprudence of ECHR. The basic hypothesis of the author is the existence of the double standards of memory rights’ protection against negationism, depending from the type of denied memory right.
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The article presents an analysis of one of Zygmunt Haupt’s text – unpublished during the author’s lifetime – which grapples with the issue of identity of a Polish writer who settled in the United States. The artist’s exile self-awareness is determined by the spatiotemporal conceptual oppositions typical for the émigré condition: “here” and “there,” “now” and “then.” An additional, original element of Hauptian discourse is the metaphor of the “praił” [primordial clay] that he uses to describe the foundation of the long-established self-awareness that is confronted with the ubiquitous otherness. The analysis also encompasses the writer’s literary output and unpublished archival materials.
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