Transitions Online_Around the Bloc-Serbia Unveils Controversial Monument to Yugoslav Officer
Ignoring Zagreb’s scorn, Serbian ministers and others honor a man whose legacy is interpreted in radically different ways in each country.
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Ignoring Zagreb’s scorn, Serbian ministers and others honor a man whose legacy is interpreted in radically different ways in each country.
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Incidents of alleged electronic espionage provide more clues to Kremlin’s ability to employ hybrid warfare techniques against NATO countries.
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The contradictions and conflicts were, are and will be widespread. There are in all human communities, even in the world of politics, economy and finance. A potential source of conflicts are contradictions. When a conflict of interest is disclosed, a conflict situation arises. In addition to the conflict that brings positive effects there are also destructive conflicts that contribute to the disorganization states, regional communities, institutions and firms. The contradictions of financial interests and destructive conflicts in the sphere of finance are at the heart of research undertaken in this article. The key research problem is therefore the answer to the question of how to minimize the negative consequences of destructive conflicts in the sphere of finance. The main objective is to develop a theoretical and methodological framework for the theory of conflicts in the financial sphere, and to formulate an original concept of good integrated governance, based mainly on assumptions of ordoliberalism.
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Currently we face Russia’s regime fighting a war in Ukraine. At the same time, Russia is intimidating its other neighbours, exerting its power upon Moldova and Georgia, disguising its military activities in Eastern Ukraine, violating its major international obligations. It is recruiting, training and commanding so-called separatists in the East in order to destabilise the rest of Ukraine. Russia aims by all possible means to keep Ukraine in its sphere of influence by reverting/discouraging Ukraine’s European direction.
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This article examines the political rhetoric of NATO Secretary General Anders F. Rasmussen during his term in office (2009–2014). The officially conducted public diplomacy of A. F. Rasmussen is analyzed based on the post-structuralist theoretical assumptions in order to detect the manifestations of discourse of danger in NATO-Russia relations during the years 2009–2014. The empirical data under review (official discourse of A. F. Rasmussen) is interpreted in the light of NATO–Russia relations by determining the main stages, dominating themes and discursive representations of these relations during the analysed period. Based on the tendencies in articulating dangers to NATO, this paper examines the Alliance’s position and its alternation vis-à-vis Russia in international system.
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The article is dedicated to the problem of mercenarism which exists since armed conflicts break out throughout the world. The author compares legal remedies adopted by the international community concerning fighting mercenarism. The analysis puts stress on strong and weak points of particular provisions as well as makes recommendations de lege ferenda.
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The sphere of national security is the area where various authorities operate. The widest range of competences is granted to the executive, but the legislator (and also the judiciary) is not deprived of influence within this field. The Sejm has special powers within the legislative power. As far as its constitutional competence referring to the national security is concerned, the Sejm essentially takes action not when dealing with the normal functioning of the state, but in the case of specified threats. Even ending a state of war is a consequence of prior specified threats. The constitutional competence of the Sejm in this field basically covers states of emergency and state of war, the latter not being included in this category by the legislator. The Sejm holds here legal tools that allow it to finally decide on the validity of these situations (except for the state of natural disaster, where the Sejm agrees on its extension).
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One of the agreements belonging to the United Nations Treaty on human rights is the Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted on November 20, 1989. It is a fundamental document of the international protection of the rights of the child. On this basis, an organ was created to ensure the observance of the right in the Convention – the Committee on the Rights of the Child. In the later years three Optional Protocols were adopted. The first two concern substantive law – the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict and the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of child prostitution and child pornography of 25 May 2010. The Third Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on a communications procedure of 19 December 2011 introduces the reform of the Committee on the Rights of the Child through the procedure of individual and interstate notifications. This article focuses on the analysis of the changes and attempts to assess their practical application
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In 1999, the Republic of Poland became a rightful member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. After seventeen years of membership, one may certainly say that during this period Poland has become a state not only safer but also playing more significant part in the international arena. Because of joining the NATO structures, Poland has taken advantage of infrastructure investments which helped in modernization of airports and navy bases.However, NATO membership also means collective defense and NATO Response Forces.For the Military Forces of the Republic of Poland to function within them effectively, their transformation was necessary. It was also significant to create the system of the isolated personnel recovery which is used in all kinds of NATO operations.The article presents the basic terminology related to the recovery of isolated personnel, areas of the functioning of the system and options of recovering isolated personnel. An important element of the article is also the scope of operations of personnel recovery, as well as directions of actions of the Military Forces of the Republic of Poland in context of events related with isolating personnel.
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Terrorism has expanded worldwide. It became necessary to look for a new framework of analysis in order to understand this type of violence. The expression “third world war” has been used in different circumstances. But terrorism is not a war because the two enemies are not well identified and conflict is not precisely located. There is a conflict in Syria and Iraq, but it is not a world war. The term “third world war” is also dangerous because it gives the impression that you will be able to end terrorism by some kind of act of war. The expression “war on terrorism” has technically not any sense. But terrorism has an aspect where religions are concerned: this is the individual decision to enter into a process of radicalization. One of the most fruitful places of peace building for religions is the interreligious dialogue at local level, schools, municipalities, churches. Global dialogue has no impact on the field if there is no action and connection at the local level.
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The history of the Great War 1914-1918, in focus in the years marking a hundred year anniversary, is more than ever enriched by researches which aim is not only to shade light on military-political events only. Increasingly, professional community, but also every interested citizen, are able to learn about various aspects of social ideas and the creation of national identity. Russian social thought during the XIX century had an exceptionally complex development. In search for a content of their own identity the Russians had been looking to the West hoping it will offer them something new, but had also tried to express own autochthonous slavophile profile through tradition. Undeniably huge Empire had allowed for highlighting a specific role Russia had in development of humanity. At the beginning of the XX century a Russian social thought which was guiding the state had tried to amalgamate Christian universalism with nationalist egoism. The result was exceptional emotionality of the national idea which relied on intuitivism, a specific Russian role and its messianism. Rationally set out treatment of the state interests, although present in the final consequence of the decision, was marked by compassion. The Russian Tzar Nicholas II, although the militarypolitical and economic situation in the country was not suggesting readiness, stood up in defence of the “Slavic brothers”. The Russian people had supported the sentiment, and the German imperialism counted on it because it was itself driven by the “Teutonic domination”.
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The paper reviews Sorokin’s cyclical conception of history through relevant literature. The social role of war is analysed, in accordance with Sorokin’s understanding of the three cultural types (sensate, idealistic, and ideational) which alternate through the history of mankind. Due to the fact that war as a social phenomenon depends on the cultural style that is dominant at a given moment in history, its social role changes as well, manifesting as a regress or progress in sociocultural process. Sorokin ascertains that we can notice the decrease in values of the dominant sensate culture in the twentieth century in all aspects of life. By examining Sorokin’s sociology of war, the author concluded that war lost the meaning it had for mankind due to the acceleration of military-technological development and that by being estranged from it, it became its own cause, turning into a conflict that may or may not lead to war. Such a conflict as a surrogate of war, that Sorokin hadn’t predicted, has no social role but leads to a destruction of civilization.
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The aim of this article is to reveal the origin of the socially engaged Vietnamese Buddhism and the methods by which this religious practice operated within the society during the presidency of Ngo Dinh Diem. This article is based on the phenomenon of socially engaged Buddhism through the ideas of postcolonial discourse theorists. The resistance from colonialism through manifestations is an important moment in the history of each state that has regained its independence. This article develops the idea that the history of Vietnam’s independence and modernization is closely linked to the expression of socially engaged Buddhism, which made the resistance movement united and effective. The end of the Second World War, which marked the decline of colonialism and made it possible for Vietnam to become an independent state, in which the freedom of religion was guaranteed, was perceived differently in the southern region of the country. The Head of South Vietnam, Ngo Dinh Diem, widely known as a marionette of France and the US, is a politician who continued to repress Buddhists. During his presidency, Buddhism had gained a rather new, socially active form, which had mobilized the society – both the monks and the laypeople – and influenced it over the political situation in the country. The aim of this paper is to get acquainted with the phenomenon of socially oriented Buddhism in Vietnam, to understand the conditions that led to its emergence, and to reveal the methods by which this form of Buddhism opposed colonial manifestations in the postcolonial perspective. During the first years of the Vietnam War and the Ngo Dinh Diem regime, the non-political goal of socially engaged Buddhism was to protect the people from suffering; however, the Ngo Dinh Diem presidency was marked by the continuation of the colonial model, which encouraged Buddhists to become a visible political power. Although Buddhist protests were of extreme risk and had cost lives, these people, who had a purely religious freedom and incentive rights, became a movement that was characterized by a deeper, hidden goal – a struggle against the postcolonial policy that the US had exerted in Asian countries. Socially engaged Buddhism can be judged by its ability to adapt to existing social challenges. Although the defense of religious symbols and rights in Vietnam during the Diem years was the main objective, the further goals became politically motivated. They were linked to the liberation of a society from colonialism; thus, it can be argued that Vietnamese Buddhism, which began as a struggle for religious rights and later became a political ideology, also marked the process of modernizing a sovereign state. It has become a world-class movement with the aim to remove the spread of pro-Western ideas in Vietnam.
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The question of the influence of religion, i.e. the teachings of certain religions regarding the understanding of certain cultural, social and political phenomena, either individually or in cooperation, is of significant importance particularly when those teachings refer to the manifestations of political violence. Of fundamental importance is also a proper insight into the similarities and differences which exist in defining the authority these understandings impose, as well as the sources from which these interpretations are derived. In this paper, the author analyzes the Orthodox understanding of political violence and how it manifests itself, relying on the dogmatic teaching of the Orthodox Church whose primary sources are the Holy Bible and canonical law.
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While many of the European Union (EU) member states have been actively involved in conflict resolution around the world as single states, the EU itself does not have a sufficient experience in this sphere, among others due to the concentration on confidence-building as the main instrument of involvement and also due to the absence of a consensus in foreign and security policy, especially in the conflict settlement sphere. The situation started changing in 2008, because of the Russian-Georgian conflict, whereas the Ukrainian crisis of 2014 brought a serious challenge for the EU. Against this backdrop, this article seeks to answer the following questions: Is the EU a reliable part-ner in peacekeeping and mediation activities in the European conflicts and what are its strengths and weaknesses? This paper argues that despite years of involvement, it is still difficult to name the Eu-ropean Union a reliable mediator and a possible peacekeeper in the Eastern Partnership region. The article also insists against calling the EU a mediator in the Ukrainian crisis, since its involvement in peacekeeping is low.
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The author argues that our contemporary dilemma between state sovereignty and humanitarian interventions cannot be properly resolved. One reason for this is the absence of a proper authority that would legitimize and monitor the use of humanitarian interventions. A deeper problem deals with our modern orientation which is almost exclusively based on what, following Albert Schweitzer, the author calls the ethics of society. At the expense of the individual, this ethical approach favors social, political, and economic institutions and leads to exaggerated organization of public life. Instead of trying to create a perfectly organized society, the author argues that we should turn decisively toward the ethics of personality. This ethical approach is not based on prescribed moral principles but on individual spontaneity and creativity; it emphasizes simple and basic human relationships, such as trust and good will, honesty and personal integrity. Transforming the world into a better place should not start with changing laws and instituting new organizations but with transforming ourselves.
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The conflict of national Polish and Lithuanian historiographies typically involves divergent interpretations of the shared history, but it is seldom noticed that linguistic interpretations (including the onomastic ones) may be divergent too. These linguistic interpretations can also become a tool of language policy, especially of the policy focused on personal names. The present article analyses selected examples of genetically Lithuanian surnames currently in use in Poland which in some Polish linguistic sources are etymologised as genetically Polish, as well as – conversely – those of Polish origin which in some Lithuanian research are interpreted as genetically Lithuanian. Although inadvertent and accidental mistakes cannot be ruled out, in the case of homonymic surnames there is a visible tendency to give priority to native etymologies. It may be assumed that for the society at large, the origin of a surname somehow implies the nationality of its bearer; in the case when the researchers’ attitudes are nationalistic, this fact may be used as an argument in public debates whose scope far exceeds that of onomastics.
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Krajowość as the national ideology of the “civil” (or “political”) type developed in Belarus and Lithuania at the beginning of the twentieth century. The adherents of krajowość claimed that all native inhabitants of historical Lithuania, disregarding their ethno-cultural identity, are “the citizens of the Kraj” [the Countrymen] and therefore belong to one nation. Some called them “the nation of Lithuanians.” The category of “the native inhabitants” was used in relation to the Lithuanians, Belarusians, Poles, Jews, and almost never to Russians. As the main criterion for a national identity they proclaimed patriotism and self-identification as citizens. The krajowość idea appeared among the nobility. Its representatives belong to the combined Polish culture in respect of their own Lithuanian and Belarusian origin. The former Grand Duchy of Lithuania was interpreted by them as a historical native land. It was the determining factor in the formation of a new identity. All adherents of krajowość (Michal Romer, Roman Skirmunt, Kanstancyja Skirmuntt, Ludwik Abramovich, etc.) belonged to the group of the “Lithuania (vel Belarus) Poles”. Despite their intentions, the krajowość idea was formed on the basis of the “Lithuanian Poles’” struggle for their own place in the new society. As a result, the ideology for “Lithuanian Poles” was created, but it could not neutralize the existing Polish-Lithuanian-Belarusian conflict.
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Currently the rules of warfare have changed, switching from classic war to hybrid war. This new form of warfare is not explicitly incriminated by the international legislation. The Ukrainian conflict represents a tangible manifestation of hybrid war, after which the state has lost a part of its territory, it being annexed by the Russian Federation through a referendum semblance. Unfortunately, the required measures have not been taken in order for the Russian Federation to stop its disguised actions that pursue to reunite the former power pole, fact which represents a regional security threat.
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The rational territorial organization of public power has a special importance of building a democratic state in the Republic of Moldova. The efficient functioning of the system of public power in a unitary state like Moldova largely depends on its territorial organization and the interaction established between the local and state power. Although Moldova has gone through several stages of reforming the territorial organization of public power, the experience obtained implementing the administrative-territorial reform in 1998 and the Counter Reformation in 2003 has not been sufficiently analyzed and systematized on a theoretical level. The theoretical conceptualization of the notion “territorial organization of public power” provides an efficient mechanism of analyzing for theorists, and also a practical tool for practitioners.
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