Around the Bloc: A Bridge That Divides
Even worse than the physical condition of the Enguri Bridge, which links Abkhazia and the rest of Georgia, are the restrictions that make travel across impossible for many ethnic Georgians.
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Even worse than the physical condition of the Enguri Bridge, which links Abkhazia and the rest of Georgia, are the restrictions that make travel across impossible for many ethnic Georgians.
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Ex-Serbian province faces years of difficult negotiations on full EU membership.
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The article presents the relationship between the acceptance of democratic rules and subjective assessment of the degree of their implementation in different European countries with the size of social capital at the disposal of the citizens of those countries. The data used for the analysis of comparative studies came from the European Social Survey realized in 2012. Based on the data presented three types of classification: 1) support for democracy, 2) assessment of democracy 3) the amount of social capital. Subjective opinions on the democratic system and the estimated size of social capital are additionally confronted with objective macro indicators determining the functioning of societies in the socio-political dimension: the quality of governance (Worldwide Governance Index), the stability of democracy (Democracy Index), economic competitiveness (Global Competitiveness Index), social development (Human development Index) and human capital (Human Capital Index).
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Interview with Asli Erdoğan, a renowned Turkish writer and human rights activist. Interviewers: Iwona Reichardt and Bartosz Marcinkowski
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The paper deals with the contemporary systems of government in two Sub‑Saharan African states which belonged to the French colonial empire – Senegal and Ivory Coast. The Senegalese constitution of 2001 contains regulations based on the semi‑presidential model, whereas the Ivorian basic law of 2000 – on the presidential one (although it was not adopted in a pure form). Special attention is devoted to the similarities and differences between the two systems, taking into consideration their constitutional structure (e.g. powers of the head of state, political responsibility of ministers and other aspects of relations within the executive branch, as well as between the latter and the legislative one). It is also pointed out that since the two countries gained their independence in 1960 Senegal and Ivory Coast have had quite different political experiences, which have exerted a visible influence on the functioning of their systems of government in practice. One of the key factors that deserve to be taken into account is the ability to produce democratic alternation of power between presidential candidates and political parties taking part in the electoral process.
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Over the last few years the idea of civil society in Poland have grown substantially. This increase allowed local communities to influence the legal and administrative changes leading to a gradual shift in the decision–making processes of local governments. The article presents system of public participation in spatial planning, Revitalisation Statute and Participatory Budget to show how legal changes increase possibilities of local community participating in Poland.
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Globalization entails the increasing volume, velocity and importance of flows within and across borders of people, ideas, goods, money, and much else, thus challenging one of sovereignty’s basic principles: the ability to control what crosses borders in either direction. Sovereign States increasingly measure their vulnerability not to one another, but to forces beyond their control. Necessity may also lead to reducing or even eliminating sovereignty when a government, whether from a lack of capacity or conscious policy, is unable to provide for the basic needs of its citizens. This reflects a view that state failure and genocide can lead to destabilizing refugee flows and create openings for terrorists to take root. Globalization is frequently discussed as a counterpoint to national sovereignty. It is commonly asserted that globalization has eroded national sovereignty or that it has rendered borders obsolete. In particular, it is asserted that, in a globalized world economy, governments have no alternative but to adopt neoliberal economic policies of privatization, deregulation and reductions in public expenditure. However, in the contest between social democracy and neoliberal globalization, the nation—state per se is only marginally relevant. The crucial issue is whether policy will respond to the wishes of a democratic electorate, or be tightly constrained by the ‘Golden Straightjacket’ of international financial markets.
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The author of this paper argues that the basic problem in relations between Russia and the West concerns political values shared by these entities in the area of international relations. This paper examines the problem on the three basic levels: (1) the basic paradigm of interpretation of international relations in Russia, i.e. realism; (2) the consequences of this approach for Russia’s place in international relations; and (3) the importance for Russia of economic cooperation with Western partners.
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There are many different explanations of how the Russia’s political system, after the collapse of the USSR, is functioning. Some argue that it can be described as a strictly centralized power vertical, authoritarian or even dictatorial model. Others suggest that the basis of the system lay in the power of elite groups or media control (mediocracy). However, the different perspectives share same assumption: the essential role in the Russian political system is played by various power elite groups; thus, their analysis helps one to understand the functioning of the regime more profoundly. The analyses of Post-Communist Russia’s elite are based on the main assumptions of the theories of power elite. It means that not only relations and interactions between various power groups are analyzed, but also the links between the concentration of power in specific groups with the post-Communist Russia transformation process. However, Russia’s political system is a “black box” that is very hard to open and acknowledge. Therefore, even an analysis of the elite groups can only give partial answers to the study of its political system. Firstly, an overview of the formation of the political elite in post-Communist Russia is presented. The main driving forces of this process are also presented. It allows the author to frame the main assumptions of the Russian power elite, especially during Vladimir Putin’s rule. Based on the suggested Russia’s political system explanation and the power elite grouping model, an overview of the main current actors, both systematic and outside-the-system, formal and informal, are presented. Systematic actors include actors from the closest circle of Vladimir Putin to the ones who simulate opposition forces. Meanwhile, an analysis of the actors outside the system also suggest the main means by which they are eliminated from the political system. The author suggests a multi-layered Russia’s power elite analysis model. The inner circle, which consists of individuals closest to V. Putin, is formed from the most loyal and long-lived sidekicks. They hold the most power in their hands despite their formal positions in the state. It can be understood as a “buffer zone” that absorbs the influence of other, competing elite groups. The second circle is formed from two groups. The “Politburo” involves both the actors from the inner circle and at that time the most influential players outside it. Another group is of formal officers/technocrats who do not have huge influence on the President’s decisions but are needed to preserve the regime – they are implementers, not decision-makers. Finally, the last circle is formed from other players, such us controlled opposition or regional leaders. Further, the main principles of the functioning of the regime are presented as well as the influence and rise of specific groups, such as the siloviki, are discussed. The deeper overview of each power circle is also presented. All in all, the model proves the complexity and closure of V. Putin’s system. However, it allows to present generalizations of the political system as such. Latest developments and the reshuffle among the members of the closest circle suggest the changes in the system are ongoing, changes which may lead a shift from a “collective Putin” to a “purely authoritarian” management. Therefore, further observations in this regard are required.
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This article presents the evolution of the National Bank of Romania from the status of a central government body to the one of autonomous public institution, through laws that have governed it from its setting up (1880) to the present. As an autonomous administrative authority, central bank finds its first foundation, in legal terms, in the provisions of Romanian Constitution of 1991, revised in 2003, and, secondly, in the normative acts that make up the legislative framework necessary for carrying out banking activity, especially Law no. 312/2004 on the Status of the National Bank of Romania. The originality of this article lies in the fact that the analysis of the legal texts was done in correlation with the historical context in which they were adopted and with the evolution of the political regime and of the Romanian economy, from the capitalist economy, to the centralized economy and, finally, to the market economy
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It is common knowledge that corruption is harmful to the economic development, mainly because it reduces the level of foreign investments. The aim of this paper is to find the determinant factors for the corruption phenomenon in Romania and to assess the effects that it has on economic growth. An econometric model was built to explain the influence of corruption on GDP annual growth rate and on the foreign direct investments in Romania. Corruption perception index, index of economic freedom, GDP growth rate, governance indicators, along with other socio-economic indicators were used in the analysis.
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The beauty that has been tried to be addressed with such fields as mathematics, architecture, geometry has been among the subjects of philosophers since antiquity. Although the concept of beauty varies according to the periods, beauty is in fact related to the conception of the people. According to Aristotle, the values we can grasp will be beautiful, otherwise considered as non-aesthetic. Although 144 there is not a formula of the ideal beauty, the concept of beauty changes in an abstract and concrete way, according to the persons who monitoring. Throughout the ages, we can see that the Anatolian coasts have been governed by different civilizations and are a source of rich cultural composition. With its strategic and geopolitical importance, Çanakkale shores also witnessed a significant part of this process. Foreign powers always want to possess these lands and the beauty of the richness of these lands. The word "Hellespont" is one of the names used throughout the history of the Dardanelles. Hellespont is a local value for Çanakkale as geographical environment, cultural wealth and sense of meaning. A series of thematic works on using Hellespont as inspiration in designs will be addressed in this notice.
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The problem that we will deal with in this paper is the phenomenon of the nation and its practical articulation through the emergence of nationalism that has different forms of its appearance with emphasis on that negative note of nationalism that here, in this region, only in this context is watched and based on the facts that speak in favor of our hypothesis that nationalism is created and practically applies through the bureaucratic structures of mythmania of unity and supernatural uniqueness. Excessive narrations on these and similar phenomena are unnecessary if we look at the logical structure of concepts that do not have their correlative in nature and which cannot be "exactly" studied. To represent the nation as a fictional, imaginary, disputed or as another imaginary community is in our opinion a big delusion that for the simple reason that both the nation and nationalism of their existence and their exactness, show in such visible and unquestionable ways that when reviewing results of their perseverance we can talk about the horrors of the largest-scale which "imagination" make into reality. How much they are imaginary, fictitious and disputable notions of the type of nation and nationalism, to the same extent such are, fictitious and disputable are, fictious are the concepts of number and other mathematical operations, radio waves, laws, morality and so on. Our point of view is that nations and nationalism have their basis in logic of the very concepts that have their genesis and their specificity on the basis of social interaction relationships that are largely complex of physical phenomena and relationships that exist in a physical world. Nationalism as a practical side of the nation is bureaucratized of ideology that the state apparatus implement in the way of the culture dimensions so that all, or nearly all state institutions are in the course of national interests of creating of conform opinion of the ruling elite that "nationalize" certain interests.
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Evaluation of an impact of cluster policies on cluster organisation performance is a research challenge. The establishment and development of cluster organisations (hereafter "COs") are the result of many factors which work together over time. Second, some COs are results of national or regional government initiatives, while others emerge spontaneously without public support. This paper presents a development of cluster policies and current stage of COs in Czechia and in Slovakia in terms of different approaches to cluster policy. The lack of convincing arguments for positive impact of public support on COs development in previous research and published studies was a reason for selection of these countries as they shared the same history as former members of Czechoslovakia (dissolution in 1993) and a lot of political, socio-economic and cultural similarities. In spite of their common historical development, the distinct differences in the way of establishing and developing cluster concept can be identified. For the comparison of the current stage of COs in these two countries, the secondary data for analysis of cluster strategies, documents, programmes and implementing bodies of public support were analysed, and primary data obtained from managers of COs using structured interviews was gathered, analysed and compared. From December 2015 to August 2016 research in more than 130 COs was carried out and then evaluated. Research findings confirmed that cluster policies are implemented in both examined countries in a different way what is manifested in different results in a number of COs, their structural characteristics and management level. Example of Czechia with strong and long-term public support shows that implementation of cluster-based policy plays an important role in evolving the cluster concept in the country, while evidence from Slovakia with weak support for cluster initiatives and COs’ establishment and development confirms, that inadequate governance and financial framework for the COs-related support in Slovakia did not bring a comparable level of COs development measured by structural characteristics and management quality as is in Czechia.
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From Boden's understanding of state government as sovereign, i.e. the highest, independent, continuous and indivisible, law, society and the state with its most important quality - the sovereignty of the state government to date have undergone major changes. The sovereignty of the state government and the independence of the state, per se is increasingly more relative phenomenon, from both, the internal and external aspects. The international community as a whole, international law and the will of the stakeholders in the international relations have a growing impact on the internal life of the state, while the state and its authority in the doctrine is attributed with the special qualities such as efficiency, legality, legitimacy, democracy ect.. The political reality is that the doctrine of sovereignty is increasingly associated with the special - exclusive resources and capabilities of certain countries and not to the quality of government, elements of the state, or the will of the people. However, question of state sovereignty is much more than a basic aggregate resource evaluation and simple deregulation, because without a healthy nation-state and its sovereignty internationally recognized system of coordination, or any rightfully supranational order that each state inter se could create, can not exist.
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Studies of happiness level in a society give a solid empirical base for the economy of happiness and the felicitary (“felicity” – lat. happiness) policy. A relation between happiness level in a society and governance may be one of the directions of such type of studies. For this reason, Public opinion research center “Vilmorus” conducted a representative survey of Lithuanian population. Objectives of the survey were to reveal opinions about a level of happiness during the last year, during the following five years and the attitudes towards budget spendings of the state: how to spend resources of the state in order to get the highest improvement of happiness in a society. The following spheres of the society and the state life were proposed for the respondents: education, healthcare, pensions, support for the young families, the unemployed, public order, state defense, culture, governance. 1005 adult respondents were interviewed in 19 towns and 31 villages in rural areas. The survey revealed that it is possible to classify the respondents into three different groups according to their happiness and a perception of prospects of the future. The first group consisted of 31% of the respondents. They stated that they are happy and more or less believe in a successful future. The second group consisted of 41,2% of the respondents, who stated that they are not satisfied in their present lives, but they believe in changes in the future. To the third group belong respondents (25,7%) who are dissatisfied in contemporary life and do not believe in positive changes in the future. 2,2% of the respondents did not answer to this question.The results of this research allow describing some peculiarities of these groups. More happy are young, better educated, living in the capital or in other big cities people. Among less happy and not believing in the future are older people, lower educated, having lower incomes and living in rural areas.The research revealed that the level of happiness influences the respondents’ opinions about the distribution of budget of the state. The group of a lower level of happiness gives priority for direct payments to the population (pensions, support of the families, the unemployed). The results showed that a considerable part of the population has a negative attitude towards governance of the state (22,4%). They did not distribute any finances for the governance. A part of the population (16,8%) did not give finances for the state defense, as well. A considerable part of the lower happiness group were among them.
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The aim of this research paper is to evaluate the position of Germany, includingthe federal government and the parliamentary opposition, as regards the migration crisis in the European Union in the years 2011‑2016. The first part of the article presents the course of the migration crisis in the presented time period. The second part discusses the evolution of the position of the governing coalition and the parliamentary opposition in Germany towards the first phase of the crisis in the years 2011‑2014. The third part has been dedicated to analysing the position of the federal government and the parliamentary opposition towards the second phase of the crisis in the years 2015‑2016. The fourth part presents the influence of the German government on the reform of the immigration and asylum policies, as well as the dynamics of the migration crisis in the European Union in the years 2015‑2016. The author formulates a research hypothesis that the federal government did not control the migration crisis in the European Union but rather acted impulsively, thereby contributing to its deepening.
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The article concerns the Three Seas Initiative, proposed by Poland and Croatia in August2016 at the i Summit in Dubrovnik. The author focused on the results of the SecondSummit of the Initiative, which took place on July 6-7, 2017 in Warsaw. The origin ofThree Seas Initiative and its main goals are explained. In the Author's conviction, theyoscillate around socio-economic issues, especially the development of the transportnetwork, which may positively affect the development of economic and trade links andsecurity - in this context it mainly focused on the diversification of energy resources,especially natural gas and oil supplies. The mentioned diversification is a condition ofeconomic security, and in the long run also of economic and political sovereignty of IPTcountries. This is particularly important in the circumstances of the aggressive policy ofthe Russian Federation towards Ukraine and the terrorist threat in Western Europeancountries, whose sources should be sought in the armed conflicts in the Middle East andthe migration crisis that they caused. In this context, it should be noted that the IPTcountries must cooperate in the field of security and counter-terrorism.
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Leader approach is growing continuously since its creation in 1991 until today. This article analyzes the Leader approach as a management tool. Examine the characteristics of the Leader and the synergy of their combined action. Briefly developed its application in the EU. Analyze the preconditions for the implementation of the approach in the Bulgarian conditions.
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As opposed to sacralisation meant to be an exclusion from the wordly life, the Second Vatican Council has juxtaposed secularisation with the process of sanctification, which restores God to His due place and acknowledges Him to be the ultimate goal of all things, without questioning the legitimacy of earthly reality. In discussing the rightfulness of human earthly affairs relating to social life, science (Vatican II’s Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the World of Today, §36), political sphere (KDK Vatican II’s Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the World of Today, §76) and culture (Vatican II’s Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the World of Today, §56), the documents of the Second Vatican Council, at the same time, explicitly define their legitimate boundaries. The autonomy of earthly matters experienced by man is not absolute. Vatican II also warns against false understanding of autonomy, whereby all spheres of human life are deprived of any sacred dimension by reference to God’s laws (Vatican II’s Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the World of Today, §41). Sacred dimension in human life is the warranty and safeguard of autonomy and human dignity. However, the profane may not be replaced with the sacred. Each totalitarian system is a direct or indirect assault upon human freedom. Nevertheless, many theologians underline that the description of the relationship between faith and culture analysed in Gaudium et Spes was over-optimistic and that at the time of its release no one could predict the negative trends that came to light following its promulgation (D. v. Hildebrandt, J. Maritain). Therefore, it comes as no surprise that John Paul II frequently referred in his speeches and writings to the secularised world and the spreading of non-belief and religious indifference. In the opinion of the Pope, the countries subordinate to the influences of secularisation are susceptible to the ideology of secularism: “At the root of this disturbing development is the attempt to promote a vision of humanity without God. It exaggerates individualism, sunders the essential link between freedom and truth, and corrodes the relationships of trust which characterise genuine social living”. When asserting that the process of transmitting faith and Christian values has ceased to exist, the Pope emphasizes that: „At the same time we perceive the search of meaning by our contemporaries, witnessed by through cultural phenomena, especially in the new religious movements with the strong presence in South America, Africa and Asia: the desire of men and women to understand the deep meaning of their lives, to respond to fundamental questions on the origin and the end of life and to journey towards happiness to which they aspire.” What is the actual position of the Church at this historical time when secularisation and pluralistic outlook on life are widespread ? According to the author, being to some degree the product of Christianity, secularization does not need to be seen as destructive force meant to destroy the Christian faith. By affording freedom from the naive forms of religion deemed to be based on magical spirit, secularisation allows one to formulate anew and in a more profound manner the question about God. Beside, it has already contributed to the creation of human space of religious freedom and spiritual pursuit. Secularization has neither rendered the questions about ultimate meaning of human existence obsolete nor has undermined their gravity and relevance. People may still for look the answers within the frameworks of traditional Churches which, in actuality, have become the enclaves of religious freedom in a secularized and pluralistic society. It seems that it is necessary to acknowledge that the essential traits of the culture of 21st century also include secularization and pluralism. Any further efforts towards the future shape of religion shall be based on the acceptance of these basic features of culture as it stands at the close of the 20th century. It is in the pluralistic society of the future where Christian Churches may play an important role, providing that they manage to become the signs of unity between the people and the nations. On the other hand, the secularized global society is also stricken with negative phenomena such as basic inequalities, political and moral crises, moral emptiness, lack of principles justifying the observance of values by all. At this point all the more evident becomes the need for the teachings of the Church to provide ethical foundation for the life of individuals and societies.
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