Zahraničná politika Slovenska v roku 2008 optikou ministra zahraničných vecí

Author(s): Miroslav Lajčák / Language(s): Slovak Publication Year: 0

For Slovak foreign policy, the year 2008 was both a year of continuity in terms of fundamental priorities and goals and a year which marked the beginning of significant change within the external environment in which Slovak diplomacy operated. On the international scene, Slovakia backed solutions based on effective multilateralism and adherence to international law. Slovakia was able to fulfill its main foreign policy objectives and the external conduct of the country strengthened its international position. Slovak diplomacy clearly, and with a certain amount of foresight, included the main strategic priorities and objectives of foreign policy in the strategy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA); the structure of which was also used in drafting the Report on the Fulfillment of Slovak Foreign Policy Tasks in 2008 and Foreign Policy Orientation for the Year 2009. Strengthening diplomatic activities in support of Slovakia’s prosperity, issues of energy security, and the overall stability of Europe proved to be key agendas within the strategy. Protecting the interests of Slovak citizens abroad also received greater focus in foreign policy. We also perceive 2008 to have been a year of increased uncertainty in international relations and international law. It was the year of the Russian-Georgian conflict, the unilateral declarations of the independence of Kosovo, South Ossetia and Abkhazia, and the year of the beginning of the global financial and economic crisis.

Slovensko a rozvojová pomoc v roku 2006

Author(s): Marián Čaučík,Zuzana Krátka,Ľudmila Pastorová / Language(s): Slovak Publication Year: 0

The co-shared responsibility of developed countries for global development makes countries like Slovakia consider the Official Development Assistance (ODA), an official component of its foreign policy. The issue of fulfilling the Millennium Development Goals became the agenda of the international community once again after the September 2005 UN summit in New York. The highest officials of Slovakia expressed their commitment to these goals at the summit. Thus as a member of the donor community, Slovakia is willing to contribute to solving the global issues i.e. to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, to achieve the universal primary education, to promote gender equality and empower women, to reduce child mortality, to improve maternal health, to combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, to ensure environmental sustainability and to develop a global partnership for development. Moreover, the development assistance is also declared the EU’s external relations priority. The EU committed itself to reach the collective level of ODA expenses at 0.51% GNI and made clear that individual member states of the EU15 would reach the level of 0.58% GNI by 2010 and 0.7% by 2017. Having in mind the limited resources of the new member states, Commission set the individual goals for them – 0.17% ODA/GNI by 2010 and 0.33% by 2015.

Atlantická a európska integrácia, stredná Európa a Slovensko

Author(s): Milan Zemko / Language(s): Slovak Publication Year: 0

On a threshold of a new century and a new millennium in the North Atlantic space the theme of concluding integration of Central European and some East European countries into two big international communities - The Atlantic Alliance and European Union becomes still more and more urgent. They are, of course, communities of different character and namely orientation. But they are interconnected by fundamental principles of values expressed usually by words as freedom, democracy and free market, and agreeing conclusions in evaluating tragic historical experiences of the 20th century.

Vystúpenie poslankyne Ireny Belohorskej, členky Zahraničného výboru Národnej rady Slovenskej republiky

Author(s): Irena Belohorská / Language(s): Slovak Publication Year: 0

Aj napriek tomu, že vonku sneží, dostala som od organizátorov konferencie pozvánku na žatvu - tak si dovolím označiť aspoň podľa názvu dnešnú Hodnotiacu konferenciu zahraničnej politiky Slovenskej republiky za rok 1999. Zahraničná politika našej mladej republiky je proces dlhodobý, určite presahujúci funkčné obdobie meniacich sa vlád, a je vlastne výsledkom a zrkadlom stálosti systému. Systému, ktorý musí byť presne definovaný. Vláda je hovorcom, reprezentantom národa na európskom, resp. svetovom javisku. Vláda musí vedieť formulovať národnoštátne záujmy, teda záujmy svojho národa, a musí ich vedieť aj obhajovať. Je tragédiou, ak štátna reprezentácia nevie tieto záujmy definovať, resp. ak v ich obhajovaní zlyháva a obetuje ich vo vidine osobných záujmov.

Syrian Refugees in a Slum Neighbourhood: Poor Turkish Residents Encountering the Other in Önder Neighbourhood, Altındağ, Ankara

Author(s): Tahire Erman / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

The significance of space/place in the experiences of people is recognized and theorized in the literature, pioneered by Henri Lefebvre (1991). People not only are affected by the place they live in, but also, as active agents, they can create their own place. In this process, spatial clustering, either voluntary or forced, may have an enabling effect both in economic and cultural terms in the former, or create conditions of exclusion and poverty in the latter (Marcuse, 1997). The clustering of rural-to-urban migrants on the peripheries of big cities as they build their gecekondus is well-documented in the Turkish context (e.g. Karpat, 1976; Gökçe, 1993; Erman, 2012), with some attention paid to its gendered outcomes (Erman, 1998). Today we are witnessing a new phenomenon in Turkey, which is about the clustering of people of a different nationality such as Syrian refugees in the slum/gecekondu neighbourhoods of Turkish cities.

Święta i wulkan

Author(s): Piotr Przybyła / Language(s): Polish Publication Year: 0

Początek końca

Author(s): Jörg Echternkamp,Anna Labentz,Robert Traba / Language(s): Polish Publication Year: 0

Ludzkie dramaty i koniunktury polityczne

Author(s): Rafał Żytyniec,Robert Traba / Language(s): Polish Publication Year: 0

Rasa, los i zdrada

Author(s): Jerzy Kochanowski / Language(s): Polish Publication Year: 0

Zbrodnia i różnorodność pamięci

Author(s): Zofia Wóycicka / Language(s): Polish Publication Year: 0

Jak problem polsko-niemiecki zmienił historię powszechną

Author(s): Włodzimierz Borodziej / Language(s): Polish Publication Year: 0

ENDNOTES

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

RUSSIA’S COMPATRIOT POLICY IN THE NORDICBALTIC REGION

Author(s): Ieva Bērziņa / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

The overview of Russia’s grand strategy in relation to the NB8 region (Chapter 1) identified the ‘compatriot policy’ as one tool for achieving its political and military goals in the international arena. Russia, as the legal successor of the Soviet Union, claimed responsibility for compatriots of the former Soviet Union (not only ethnic Russians), many of whom became citizens (or non-citizens)64 of countries that regained their independence or were established as sovereign states after the collapse of the Soviet Union. These specific historical circumstances created a situation in which a large number of people that Russia considers compatriots reside outside its territorial borders. From the Kremlin’s perspective this gives it the moral and legal grounds to intervene in the internal matters of other sovereign states when justified by the need to protect and defend the rights of Russia’s (ex-Soviet) compatriots. Among the reasons given to justify the five day war with Georgia in 2008 and the annexation of the Crimea in 2014 was the need to protect compatriots, thus setting a precedent for Russia’s violating the territorial integrity and sovereignty of its neighbouring states on the principle of defending compatriots. This chapter provides some insight into how Russia is using its compatriot policy as a tool of influence in the NB8 region, with an outline of the Russian perspective regarding the protection of compatriots. We assess the possibility of using the compatriot policy as a justification for sovereignty violations in the NB8 region, as was done in Georgia and the Crimea. We used a comparative over- view of the compatriots’ main activities in 2016 to answer the research questions. The main conclusion is that due to their ethnic structure, the Baltic States, and Estonia and Latvia in particular, are most vulnerable to the application of narrative of a violation of compatriots’ rights. However, the mere existence of the narrative is not itself an indication of hostile action, because the protection of compatriots’ rights is a means rather than an end. Another conclusion is that Russia consolidates compatriots’ activities in different countries and uses this as a concerted channel for the global promotion of Russia’s worldview. In other words, over time Russia’s compatriot policy has exceeded the ‘Near Abroad’ (a specific term used in Russia’s political language to signify countries that once formed the Soviet Union, where Russia claims to have special interests). For the NB8 region, this means that some of the issues salient in the Baltic States for over two decades have gradually spread to other countries as well.

INTRODUCTION

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

The project ‘Russia’s (Dis)Information Activities Against the Nordic-Baltic Region’ was initiated in 2016 as a reaction to the intensification of Russia’s influence activities against the West on the backdrop of the information campaign against Ukraine and the conflict in the southeast Ukraine. Previous studies conducted by the NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence (NATO StratCom COE) led to conclusion that Russia is employing a multi-level and multi-direction system of influence to advance its political and military goals. However these studies did not provide in-depth answers about the origins of the various information flows, their actual goals, and their ultimate effect on the social and political processes in Western countries. As pointed out by prominent British journalist Edward Lucas: ‘Even in the narrow question of the effectiveness of Russia’s overtly published propaganda, we have limited information about who consumes it, in what quantity, when, where and why. So before getting too excited about the lies and hatred spewed out by, say, Sputnik or RT, we need to know where it is landing. The answers may vary sharply by country, and across the demographic and social spectrums. But finding them requires quantitative and qualitative research.

NARRATIVES ABOUT THE NORDIC-BALTIC COUNTRIES PROMOTED BY RUSSIA

Author(s): Diana Kaljula,Ivo Juurvee / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

Since the Ukrainian conflict in 2014 and Russia’s interference in the Brexit referendum in 2016 and elections in the United States, France, and Germany in 2017, the Western public has begun to accept the possibility that the Russian Federation is actively and aggressively interfering with sovereign countries via the information environment. One of the aims of the project ‘Russia’s (Dis)Information Activities Against the Nordic-Baltic Region’ was to collect systematic information about the main narratives, themes, and messages that Russia employs regarding Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, and Sweden.

RUSSIA’S NARRATIVES AND PUBLIC OPINION IN THE BALTIC STATES, FINLAND, AND SWEDEN

Author(s): Ieva Bērziņa / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

The study of Russian narratives regarding the NB8 countries identified the most common ‘outgoing’ narratives used in 2016. However, mere content analysis is not a sufficient metric to assess Russia’s influence in the information environment, because media is just an instrument for reaching the ultimate target—the cognitive dimension of the communities that reside in the NB8 countries. Therefore the final ingredient in this study of Russia’s activities in the information environment of the NB8 region for the period 2016–2017 was a comparative public opinion survey that aimed to discover to what extent the narratives promoted by Russia correspond with the views of the societies in the region. It should be emphasized that measuring Russia’s influence in information environment is a complicated task. Four issues limit the possibility of arriving at comprehensive and unambiguous answers by means of a limited quantitative survey: 1) there are no strict divisions between the narratives promoted by Russia and the views of opinion leaders and societies outside Russia—they may coincide without any specific connection to Russia; 2) without qualitative research methods it is impossible to know how the respondents understand such concepts as ‘neo-Nazism’, ‘threat’, ‘destabilization’, etc., and if their understanding differs from the interpretation assumed in the Russian narratives; 3) without additional research it is also impossible to draw any conclusions about the factors influencing of the opinions of respondents, therefore coincidence in views can not necessarily be interpreted as due to Russia’s influence or, indeed, as the absence of it; 4) additional research is necessary to determine how Russia seeks to match its narratives to the attitudes present in the NB8 societies to advance its strategic goals, and, indeed, if this is possible. Nevertheless, an initial attempt was made to measure the spread of the narratives promoted by Russia in the NB8 region in terms of public agreement or disagreement with the ideas that are in line with the content produced by Russian state-funded media and Russia’s strategic goals. Although the survey data should primarily be taken as a basis for further research, the results provide a valuable comparative perspective on public opinion in the NB8 region and the extent of the use of the three Russian state funded media outlets surveyed. The data obtained in this pilot study supports a more sceptical view regarding Russia’s informational influence on Western societies as expressed by prominent Russian expert M. Galeotti: ‘Too much is often made of the alleged influence of the English-language Sputnik news agency and RT television channel, or even of the online trolling and disinformation campaign. Evidence that they actually changed minds—rather than just pandered to existing prejudices—is still lacking.

VULNERABILITIES AND MEDIA COVERAGE

Author(s): Ion Bunduchi / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

Moldova is facing a profound crisis. Although media institutions have, to some extent, been fulfilling their watchdog role, the country is vulnerable and freedom of the press is uncertain at best. The most influential media outlets, especially the television stations, are politically affiliated and often the personal property of politicians and influential businessmen. These media institutions exert significant influence on the public agenda, often determining which subjects are put forward according to their private interests, with no connection to the real needs of Moldovan citizens and society. The representation of issues that concern the public interest has narrowed considerably, while the representation of private, political, and/or economic interests takes centre stage. This makes it possible for politically, ideologically, or economically powerhungry stakeholders to manipulate public opinion. However, the media are not the only actors revealing social problems. The adversaries of democratic development are also ready to exploit existing vulnerabilities. This chapter focuses on the issues of corruption, weak state structures, national politics, and the regions of Transnistria and Gagauzia. Poverty and a lack of security also largely stem from these issues.

HOSTILE NARRATIVES AND PROPAGANDA

Author(s): Igor Munteanu / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

This chapter describes four Kremlin narratives that are hostile to Moldovan sovereignty, namely ’Russkii Mir and Soviet Nostalgia’, ‘Federalization Will Ensure Equality’, ‘The European Union is Bad, Russia’s Customs Union is What You Need’, and ‘Romania and NATO are a Threat to Peace’. These narratives overlap and are often contradictory and contain lies. Still, they share some basic principles—they leverage Moldovan vulnerabilities, touch the emotions of different local audiences, and attempt to develop mistrust toward modern Western countries and Trans-Atlantic values and relationships.

WHO CONTROLS THE MEDIA AND PEOPLE’S MEDIA CONSUMPTION?

Author(s): Nadine Gogu / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

This chapter describes who or what controls the media and media consumption. The analysis emphasizes the importance of the power to control what Moldovans read, see, hear, and experience. Russian media is seen as more trustworthy then Moldovan media. The fact that much of the media is linked to the local political and business elite, most often to Vladimir Plahotniuc, but also to Chiril Luchinschi, Vlad Filat, Vadim Ciubara, Victor Țopa, Dan Lozovan, Dumitru Țîra, and Ilan Shor among others, does not help the situation. Television is still seen as relatively reliable, as it is the third most trusted source of socio-political information.