W artykule autor stara się ustalić, jaką rolę powinny i mogą odgrywać partie regionalne
procesie integracji europejskiej. Znaczenie tego pytania wynika z faktu, że partie regionalne
spotykają się z niechęcią ze strony władz politycznych i społeczeństw „państw narodowych”
We wstępie autor pokazuje, w jaki sposób zmieniło się podejście do regionalizmu w Europie
w połowie lat 80. XX w. Najbardziej widoczne jest ono w koncepcji „nowego regionalizmu”.
Kontynuując swoje rozważania autor opisuje toczącą się debatę na temat tego jaką rolę odgrywają partie regionalne, a zwłaszcza ich szczególna forma jaką są partie etnoregionalne w
systemach politycznych współczesnych państw europejskich.
Podano również przykład rywalizacji politycznej w regionie i ogólnych zasad rządzących
konkurencją na poziomie regionu. Autor wierzy, że analiza funkcjonowania regionalnych systemów partyjnych może być przydatna w analizowaniu procesów społeczno-politycznych,
zwłaszcza na Górnym Śląsku.
Civil society under Russia’s threat: building resilience in Ukraine, Belarus ...DonbassFullAccess
This document summarizes a research paper on civil society resilience in Ukraine, Belarus, and Moldova in response to threats from Russia. It finds the top three vulnerabilities for each country are:
For Ukraine - high insecurity from the ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine; turbulence in its predatory and fractured political environment; and susceptibility to Russian disinformation.
For Belarus - its structural dependence on Russia economically, in energy, geopolitically and socio-culturally; issues with national identity and the Russian language; exposure to Russian information warfare.
For Moldova - strong linkages between politics, media and the Orthodox Church that allow Russian propaganda to dominate; low trust in institutions due to this undermining
After the relatively successful system transformation, some young democratic countries from Central and Eastern Europe which used to receive democratic
aid in the 1980s and 90s have engaged as new donors in assisting pro-democratic
changes in other post-communist countries. The donor-recipient relations between
two post-communist countries can be observed on the example of the development
of cooperation between Poland and Ukraine. This paper deals with Polish assistance
to new media in Ukraine in from 2007-2017 as a part of supporting democracy in
Ukraine under the Polish Cooperation Development Program. Firstly, this work examines whether the Polish government’s support of Ukrainian media as part of cooperation development will be sustained regardless of changes in the Polish government.
Secondly, the paper explores whether Polish NGOs tailor their projects, financed
by the Polish MFA, to the recipients’ respective needs and the current situation in
Ukraine. By examining Polish media assistance, the authors aim to explain the efforts
of the new donor in developing media in a partner country, emphasizing the relation
between the involvement of external actors and the presence of independent media
which play an important role in democratization processes.
The aim of this Special Issue of Central European Political Studies is to
bring media scholars together and to reflect on the current trends in political journalism in our region. The focus of the articles is trained on the discovery of the shifts
and continuities in journalistic practises 25 years after the collapse of the communist regimes. Some of the findings and conclusions presented in the volume come
from studies conducted within the framework of international comparative research
projects such as Worlds of Journalism, Journalistic Role Performance Around the
Globe, or Media Accountability and Transparency in Europe (MediaAcT). The others
come from single, national empirical studies or analyses on the media systems conducted in the Central and Eastern countries.
Ben Duke - Keele University - European Journal of Interdisciplinary StudiesBen Duke
This document provides a literature review and theoretical framework for analyzing the relationship between constitutional reform, decentralization, and democratization. It defines key concepts like localism, decentralization, and regional autonomy. It also discusses how factors like a country's social, economic, political, and cultural context can influence the drive for reform and shape the democratic process and outcomes. The document presents examples from literature to illustrate debates around whether decentralization truly empowers citizens or is used by states to delay recognition of multi-national identities. It aims to provide a critical perspective on how resource allocation and social policies may change when new states form through various political processes.
Former Soliers Work By The Cwwpp 2008 08guest3ddc62
The Coalition for Work with Psychotrauma and Peace (CWWPP) is a non-profit organization that provides psychological assistance and education in Croatia and the Netherlands. It works to help individuals and groups affected by violence in the region, with a focus on former soldiers dealing with trauma. The CWWPP implements counseling programs and education courses on topics like conflict transformation. It takes a long-term approach to rehabilitation in communities impacted by war and discrimination in the Balkans region.
This paper provides an illustration of the changing tolerance for inequality in a context of radical political and economic transformation and rapid economic growth. We focus on the Polish transition experience, and explore individuals' self-reported attitudes. Using unusually long and frequent (monthly) representative surveys of the population, carried out by the Polish poll institute (CBOS) from 1992 to 2005, we identify a structural break in the relationship between income inequality and subjective well-being. The downturn in the tolerance for inequality (1997) coincides with increasing distrust of political elites.
Authored by: Irena Grosfeld and Claudia Senik
Published in 2008
INSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT TRAJECTORY IN EASTERN EUROPE IN THE 16th—17th CENTU...Mike Vdovin
This document discusses the historical development of institutions in Eastern Europe, specifically analyzing land ownership and serfdom in Muscovy (Russia) and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the 16th-17th centuries. It finds that while both states adopted serfdom, their approaches to land ownership differed. Muscovy developed contingent land ownership and a large manorial army to increase its military strength, while the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth strengthened private property rights and saw the rise of vested land ownership as central authority weakened. These divergent institutional trajectories impacted the political and economic development of the two states.
Highway to hell? European Union‘s Eastern Policy from a Civilian power persp...Adam Mickiewicz University
Jarosław Jańczak, Michael Meimeth, 2015, Highway to hell? – European Union’s Eastern Policy from a civilizing power perspective, “Centre international de formation européenne CIFE Policy Paper”, No. 7, pp. 10.
Civil society under Russia’s threat: building resilience in Ukraine, Belarus ...DonbassFullAccess
This document summarizes a research paper on civil society resilience in Ukraine, Belarus, and Moldova in response to threats from Russia. It finds the top three vulnerabilities for each country are:
For Ukraine - high insecurity from the ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine; turbulence in its predatory and fractured political environment; and susceptibility to Russian disinformation.
For Belarus - its structural dependence on Russia economically, in energy, geopolitically and socio-culturally; issues with national identity and the Russian language; exposure to Russian information warfare.
For Moldova - strong linkages between politics, media and the Orthodox Church that allow Russian propaganda to dominate; low trust in institutions due to this undermining
After the relatively successful system transformation, some young democratic countries from Central and Eastern Europe which used to receive democratic
aid in the 1980s and 90s have engaged as new donors in assisting pro-democratic
changes in other post-communist countries. The donor-recipient relations between
two post-communist countries can be observed on the example of the development
of cooperation between Poland and Ukraine. This paper deals with Polish assistance
to new media in Ukraine in from 2007-2017 as a part of supporting democracy in
Ukraine under the Polish Cooperation Development Program. Firstly, this work examines whether the Polish government’s support of Ukrainian media as part of cooperation development will be sustained regardless of changes in the Polish government.
Secondly, the paper explores whether Polish NGOs tailor their projects, financed
by the Polish MFA, to the recipients’ respective needs and the current situation in
Ukraine. By examining Polish media assistance, the authors aim to explain the efforts
of the new donor in developing media in a partner country, emphasizing the relation
between the involvement of external actors and the presence of independent media
which play an important role in democratization processes.
The aim of this Special Issue of Central European Political Studies is to
bring media scholars together and to reflect on the current trends in political journalism in our region. The focus of the articles is trained on the discovery of the shifts
and continuities in journalistic practises 25 years after the collapse of the communist regimes. Some of the findings and conclusions presented in the volume come
from studies conducted within the framework of international comparative research
projects such as Worlds of Journalism, Journalistic Role Performance Around the
Globe, or Media Accountability and Transparency in Europe (MediaAcT). The others
come from single, national empirical studies or analyses on the media systems conducted in the Central and Eastern countries.
Ben Duke - Keele University - European Journal of Interdisciplinary StudiesBen Duke
This document provides a literature review and theoretical framework for analyzing the relationship between constitutional reform, decentralization, and democratization. It defines key concepts like localism, decentralization, and regional autonomy. It also discusses how factors like a country's social, economic, political, and cultural context can influence the drive for reform and shape the democratic process and outcomes. The document presents examples from literature to illustrate debates around whether decentralization truly empowers citizens or is used by states to delay recognition of multi-national identities. It aims to provide a critical perspective on how resource allocation and social policies may change when new states form through various political processes.
Former Soliers Work By The Cwwpp 2008 08guest3ddc62
The Coalition for Work with Psychotrauma and Peace (CWWPP) is a non-profit organization that provides psychological assistance and education in Croatia and the Netherlands. It works to help individuals and groups affected by violence in the region, with a focus on former soldiers dealing with trauma. The CWWPP implements counseling programs and education courses on topics like conflict transformation. It takes a long-term approach to rehabilitation in communities impacted by war and discrimination in the Balkans region.
This paper provides an illustration of the changing tolerance for inequality in a context of radical political and economic transformation and rapid economic growth. We focus on the Polish transition experience, and explore individuals' self-reported attitudes. Using unusually long and frequent (monthly) representative surveys of the population, carried out by the Polish poll institute (CBOS) from 1992 to 2005, we identify a structural break in the relationship between income inequality and subjective well-being. The downturn in the tolerance for inequality (1997) coincides with increasing distrust of political elites.
Authored by: Irena Grosfeld and Claudia Senik
Published in 2008
INSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT TRAJECTORY IN EASTERN EUROPE IN THE 16th—17th CENTU...Mike Vdovin
This document discusses the historical development of institutions in Eastern Europe, specifically analyzing land ownership and serfdom in Muscovy (Russia) and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the 16th-17th centuries. It finds that while both states adopted serfdom, their approaches to land ownership differed. Muscovy developed contingent land ownership and a large manorial army to increase its military strength, while the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth strengthened private property rights and saw the rise of vested land ownership as central authority weakened. These divergent institutional trajectories impacted the political and economic development of the two states.
Highway to hell? European Union‘s Eastern Policy from a Civilian power persp...Adam Mickiewicz University
Jarosław Jańczak, Michael Meimeth, 2015, Highway to hell? – European Union’s Eastern Policy from a civilizing power perspective, “Centre international de formation européenne CIFE Policy Paper”, No. 7, pp. 10.
A systematic study of comparative government the world over points out that, there are, undeniably, four basic elements of the State, namely; population; territory; government and sovereignty which constitute the subject of this article.
This document provides an overview of a project by the European Cultural Foundation and German Marshall Fund to support cultural actors of change in Belarus, Moldova, and Ukraine. It discusses the goals of facilitating networking, cultural cooperation, and empowering local artists. An initial mapping identified outstanding individuals and organizations playing a role in culture and change. Country reports were produced through questionnaires and meetings to understand each country's cultural situation and how culture could support democracy, Europeanization, and modernization. The reflection process aims to develop a 3-year plan and new cultural instruments tailored to local needs in order to empower cultural actors in supporting positive change in the region.
The State and the political mediation
- the functioning of a control society -
1 - The social-democratic model
2 - Parties, unions and employers' associations
This document provides a summary of a study titled "Politics and Society in North Africa and the Middle East between Reform and Conflict. Trends in Development up to the Year 2010". The study analyzes political, economic, and social developments in the region, and identifies key risk factors and areas of potential conflict. It finds that governments have largely been unwilling or unable to implement reforms to modernize their economies and societies. Socioeconomic challenges like unemployment, poverty and lack of resources could trigger further conflicts. Ideological debates around cultural and religious identity have also intensified and may hinder reforms. The study concludes that without concerted long-term strategies to promote structural reform and modernization, socio-political conflicts in the region will likely continue
Non governmental organizations have been active in Moldova since 1989, but a civil society started its today’s formation as a result of radical reforms in economic and political areas only after the country became independent in 1991. Since that time the establishment of a transitional civil society in Moldova is under way. However, starting from 2001, when the Communist Party won the general elections, development of the nongovernmental sector has become slower. Although several positive patterns evident at the end of the nineties indicate progress in the development of Moldovan non-governmental sector, there is a number of sensitive issues (e.g., freedom of media, human rights protection) in relation to which certain regress has been observed especially in the last two years. Media market in Moldova is far from being free, and protection of human rights remains to be a problem (in all respects, situation of non-governmental sector in Transnistria is much worse than in Moldova). Finally, it needs to be emphasized that critical socio-economic situation seems to be the main threat to democracy and the rule of law in the country. This is because further significant economic decline can provide fertile ground for non-democratic political forces and extremists. Economic collapse could be a real threat to the achievements in the area of democratization and civil society development. Thus, only results of a successful economic reform process may reverse undesirable patterns and change socio-economic situation in Moldova, increase income of population, decrease poverty, guarantee stability and irreversibility of Moldovan achievements in democratization and development of civil society.
Authored by: Jacek Cukrowski, Radzislawa Gortat, Piotr Kazmierkiewicz
Published in 2003
The document discusses the evolution of European states from feudalism to modern states. It describes 4 key stages: 1) Feudalism - Political power was decentralized among feudal lords. States lacked sovereignty and national identity. 2) Absolute Monarchy - Monarchs centralized power to themselves to unify territories into nations in the late Middle Ages and early modern period. 3) Aristocratic Dominance - Some states like France experienced periods where powerful nobles challenged monarch authority. 4) "Popular" Formula - States continued centralizing power and developing national identities through the modern period.
Using individual data on voting and political parties manifestos in European coun- tries, we empirically characterize the drivers of voting for populist parties (the demand side) as well as the presence of populist parties (the supply side). We show that the economic insecurity drivers of the demand of populism are significant, especially when considering the key interactions with turnout incentives, neglected in previous studies. Once turnout effects are taken into account, economic insecurity drives consensus to populist policies directly and through indirect negative effects on trust and attitudes towards immigrants. On the supply side, populist parties are more likely to emerge when countries are faced with a systemic crisis of economic security. The orientation choice of populist parties, i.e., whether they arise on left or right of the political spec- trum, is determined by the availability of political space. The typical mainstream parties response is to reduce the distance of their platform from that of successful populist entrants, amplifying the aggregate supply of populist policies.
MAIN TRENDS IN MEDIA COVERAGE OF SOCIOPOLITICAL PROCESSES IN UKRAINE IN 2014-...DonbassFullAccess
The document analyzes trends in media coverage of socio-political events in Ukraine from 2014 to 2017 based on monitoring by NGO Detector Media. It finds that for many years, the political views expressed by private Ukrainian TV channels have been defined by the interests of their oligarchic owners rather than objective journalism. Following Ukraine's 2014 revolution, some channels began transforming into public broadcasters, but oligarchic media groups still dominate the landscape. The monitoring found violations of journalism standards increased in news coverage, especially invited commentary that censored opposing views. Overall the analysis shows oligarchic influence and lack of strong public media have hampered quality coverage of political issues important to Ukrainian society.
This document discusses how a British broadsheet newspaper represented the Greek national elections in 2012 through the lens of the ongoing financial crisis in Europe. It analyzes the use of speech representation, which involves reporting the words of those involved in the Greek elections and related events. The author argues that this serves to construct a polarized image of the crisis by framing Greece and Europe in an oppositional relationship, positioning Greece as either dependent on or independent from Europe. This framing helps maintain existing power structures and social inequalities.
In the context of the systemic transformation of international relations and the global challenges of the new order, States faced a whole range of problems, the solution of which was beyond the power of individual institutions or structures at the regional or global levels. It was the states at the individual and collective levels that were able to mobilize internal and external financial resources, work out a package of anti crisis measures and keep the development of their own economies in a relatively resistant state, and ensure the revival of the dynamics of development. Ulugbeck A. Khasanov | Khabibullo Sadibakosev "Imperative of Nation-State in Modern World" Published in International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (ijtsrd), ISSN: 2456-6470, Volume-5 | Issue-2 , February 2021, URL: https://www.ijtsrd.com/papers/ijtsrd38581.pdf Paper Url: https://www.ijtsrd.com/humanities-and-the-arts/political-science/38581/imperative-of-nationstate-in-modern-world/ulugbeck-a-khasanov
This document provides an overview of party politics in Kenya from the pre-colonial period through independence. It discusses:
1) Kenya's early history and the influence of Arab traders on coastal alignments. Colonialism in the 19th century further reshaped groupings as the British established protectorates.
2) After independence, Jomo Kenyatta established KANU as the dominant party and used concepts like "Harambee" to encourage alliances across ethnic groups and limit opposition.
3) Under Daniel arap Moi in the 1980s, KANU transitioned to a "party-state" as the sole party, tightly controlling politics. Scholars have analyzed why single-party systems
European Border Dialogues 2013 presentation by Vugar BayramovEva Rybkova
This document discusses the root causes and real characteristics of conflicts, as well as the causal mechanisms and approaches to cross-border cooperation. It identifies several endogenous and exogenous root causes of conflicts, including territorial and ethnic issues, great power politics, weak institutions, and historical legacies. It also examines the role of external actors and endogenous social and economic factors in conflicts. The document recommends approaches like promoting international law standards, peace-oriented education and propaganda, grassroots dialogue, and civil society engagement to improve cross-border cooperation.
Polish Printed Media Coverage and Evaluation of the Polish Presidency in the ...Agnieszka Stępińska
The document discusses a study analyzing Polish print media coverage of Poland's first presidency of the European Union Council in 2011. It examines how four daily newspapers (Gazeta Wyborcza, Rzeczpospolita, Nasz Dziennik, and Fakt) and three weekly magazines (Polityka, Wprost, and Uważam Rze. Inaczej pisane) portrayed and evaluated the presidency. The study found that while the newspapers' political biases could have led to differing evaluations, most coverage was neutral. Gazeta Wyborcza and Fakt had the highest levels of neutral assessments at 67% and 57%, while Rzeczpospolita and Nasz D
The Greek bail-out was highly controversial. An oft-heard assessment is that i) the bail-out was a mistake, ii) the political haggling over it was irrational and iii) the bail-out will create a moral hazard problem. Contrary to this view, our analysis suggests that, given EMU’s present political-economic set-up, i) the bail-out was unavoidable, ii) the lengthy process of political haggling leading to it was understandable, and iii) the bail-out does not have to be necessarily associated with a future moral hazard problem. Based on our analysis, we suggest that the EMU’s institutional design could be improved by establishing ‘exit rules’ and that bail-outs should be made rule-based. We have based our analysis on a politicaleconomic, game-theoretic model that helps to understand why and how the parties involved in the Greek crisis arrived at the bail-out and on what conditions the final solution depended. The model allows tracing analytically the dynamics of the negotiation processes as well as the conditions and parameters on which the scope and limits of fiscal redistribution in EMU depends. In doing so, we formally take account of the ‘negative externality’ problem that has been central to policy debates related to the EMU’s institutional design and has played an important role in the Greek crisis. However, contrary to the existing literature, we do not only focus on the economic aspects of such negative externality, but also look at where they emanate from and interact with political factors, in particular the dynamics of the political negotiation process within the EMU.
Authored by: Christian Fahrholz, Cezary Wojcik
Published in 2010
CWWPP Children And Youth Presentation Cwwpp 2008 08guest3ddc62
The Coalition for Work with Psychotrauma and Peace (CWWPP) is a non-profit organization providing psychological assistance and education in Croatia and the Netherlands. It works in the region of Vukovar, Croatia, which experienced significant violence and trauma during the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s. The CWWPP aims to help individuals and communities recover from trauma through counseling, education programs, and advocacy. It also conducts research on trauma and mental health challenges facing the region.
I. International Relation between two Wars
Russian Revolution, Fascism, League of Nations, Second World War
II. Cold War
Decolonization in Asia and Africa.
Rise of United States and Soviet Union,
Era of Tight Bipolarity, Détente and Loose Bipolarity, Revival of Cold War
III. Post Cold War
End of History, Clash of Civilization, Terrorism, Globalization, unipolarity New
world Order
IV. International and Regional Organizations
League of Nation, United Nations, Regional Organizations, EU, ASEAN, NAFTA,
SAARC, SCO, OIC, ECO, WTO.
Reforms in the United Nations, World Bank and the IMF
V. Foreign Policy of Selected Countries
USA, Russia, China, UK, India, Pakistan and EU
VI. South Asia
Peace-making and Peace-Building in South Asia: Analytical overview of peace
processes between/among the states of South Asia especially between India and
Pakistan.
India and Pakistan: Overview of agreements and accords, Indus Water Treaty;
Composite Dialogue; Sir Creek & Siachen border, Visa and People to people
contact; Trade; and Role of civil society
Afghanistan: Cold war theatre; Soviet Invasion Mujahedeen; Geneva Accord; Post
Cold War situation---Rise of Taliban, AL-Qeada & 9/11; Operation Enduring
Freedom; The Bonn Process- Withdrawal
95
Revised Scheme and Syllabus for CSS Competitive Examination-2016
VII. Weapons of Mass Destruction
Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons
Nuclear Weapon States- Programs and Postures: Indian-Pakistan Nuclear
Doctrines
Nuclear Non –Proliferation Regime: International Atomic Energy Agency, Nuclear
Non- proliferation Treaty; Nuclear Supplier Group; Partial Test Ban Treaty;
Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty; Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty
Challenges of Non-Proliferation, Nuclear Civil Deal Regime
The Missile Defence Systems and their impact on global strategic environment
Militarization and Weaponization of Space.
VIII. Contemporary Issues
Indian Ocean and PACIFIC Ocean; Great Powers Moves and hegemony
Kashmir Issue
Palestine Issue
The paper presents the contemporary information policy implemented by
the Ukrainian government. The survey answers the question about the new role of information policy in the state authorities’ activities. The research focuses on the executive branch of power, due to its impact on the internal and external image of Ukraine.
The analysis was conducted at the strategic, institutional and operational levels, and
concerned the content of messages.
Much of the study of politics centers on the tension between human agency and constraints on choice. Political leaders typically emphasize their ability to act in a sovereign fashion, describing politics as the art of the possible. What they less often refer to are the institutional and structural constraints that they face when trying to chart a new path. The old pathway is hard to escape, making them all captives of a certain path dependency.
Migrant Integration: The European Experience and Prospects for RussiaRussian Council
This working paper was prepared as part of the Russian International Affairs Council’s project International Migration Processes: Trends, Challenges and Prospects. Whereas Europe has dealt with mass influxes of immigrants since the 1950s, Russia only encountered this phenomenon relatively recently. Europe’s experience with migrant integration, which will be considered in this working paper, might be useful to Russia in resolving similar issues. The author identifies a range of specific programmes and measures to ease the process of including immigrants and their descendants into the host country’s social institutions, and he offers several recommendations regarding the prospects for integrating migrants in Russia.
This panel organised by Dr Calzada and chaired by Dr Herrschel, has been accepted to be into the programme of UACES (The Academic Association for Contemporary European Studies) Conference in Bilbao.
European regional context is being transformed by the increasingly demand of the sub-national territorial units to reach more devolution and even independence. Under the same devolution regional trend though, many manifestations can be identified that remark their new relationship with their referential nation-states. This panel looks at the concept such as 'devolution', 'independence' and 'self determination' in order to find theoretical and policy-informed evidences in the European arena. Moreover, it looks into ways in which the phenomenon could be explained from different perspective such as, city-regionalism, comparative politics, urban and spatial planning, city diplomacy and social innovation, among others.
- The EU emerged from unique historical circumstances and has become a project promoting peace between nations. It exists in a gray area between a supranational and intergovernmental organization, with sovereignty divided between states and a centralized governance.
- The EU aims to preserve members' identities while creating a new pan-European identity respecting diversity. Its identity is characterized by democratic values, human rights, and the rule of law inherited from Western nations.
- While the EU's expansion faces limits, integrating countries like Croatia could help unify Europe if done gradually with wisdom and patience. Croatia is working to translate EU laws and hoping to complete negotiations to join by 2011.
A systematic study of comparative government the world over points out that, there are, undeniably, four basic elements of the State, namely; population; territory; government and sovereignty which constitute the subject of this article.
This document provides an overview of a project by the European Cultural Foundation and German Marshall Fund to support cultural actors of change in Belarus, Moldova, and Ukraine. It discusses the goals of facilitating networking, cultural cooperation, and empowering local artists. An initial mapping identified outstanding individuals and organizations playing a role in culture and change. Country reports were produced through questionnaires and meetings to understand each country's cultural situation and how culture could support democracy, Europeanization, and modernization. The reflection process aims to develop a 3-year plan and new cultural instruments tailored to local needs in order to empower cultural actors in supporting positive change in the region.
The State and the political mediation
- the functioning of a control society -
1 - The social-democratic model
2 - Parties, unions and employers' associations
This document provides a summary of a study titled "Politics and Society in North Africa and the Middle East between Reform and Conflict. Trends in Development up to the Year 2010". The study analyzes political, economic, and social developments in the region, and identifies key risk factors and areas of potential conflict. It finds that governments have largely been unwilling or unable to implement reforms to modernize their economies and societies. Socioeconomic challenges like unemployment, poverty and lack of resources could trigger further conflicts. Ideological debates around cultural and religious identity have also intensified and may hinder reforms. The study concludes that without concerted long-term strategies to promote structural reform and modernization, socio-political conflicts in the region will likely continue
Non governmental organizations have been active in Moldova since 1989, but a civil society started its today’s formation as a result of radical reforms in economic and political areas only after the country became independent in 1991. Since that time the establishment of a transitional civil society in Moldova is under way. However, starting from 2001, when the Communist Party won the general elections, development of the nongovernmental sector has become slower. Although several positive patterns evident at the end of the nineties indicate progress in the development of Moldovan non-governmental sector, there is a number of sensitive issues (e.g., freedom of media, human rights protection) in relation to which certain regress has been observed especially in the last two years. Media market in Moldova is far from being free, and protection of human rights remains to be a problem (in all respects, situation of non-governmental sector in Transnistria is much worse than in Moldova). Finally, it needs to be emphasized that critical socio-economic situation seems to be the main threat to democracy and the rule of law in the country. This is because further significant economic decline can provide fertile ground for non-democratic political forces and extremists. Economic collapse could be a real threat to the achievements in the area of democratization and civil society development. Thus, only results of a successful economic reform process may reverse undesirable patterns and change socio-economic situation in Moldova, increase income of population, decrease poverty, guarantee stability and irreversibility of Moldovan achievements in democratization and development of civil society.
Authored by: Jacek Cukrowski, Radzislawa Gortat, Piotr Kazmierkiewicz
Published in 2003
The document discusses the evolution of European states from feudalism to modern states. It describes 4 key stages: 1) Feudalism - Political power was decentralized among feudal lords. States lacked sovereignty and national identity. 2) Absolute Monarchy - Monarchs centralized power to themselves to unify territories into nations in the late Middle Ages and early modern period. 3) Aristocratic Dominance - Some states like France experienced periods where powerful nobles challenged monarch authority. 4) "Popular" Formula - States continued centralizing power and developing national identities through the modern period.
Using individual data on voting and political parties manifestos in European coun- tries, we empirically characterize the drivers of voting for populist parties (the demand side) as well as the presence of populist parties (the supply side). We show that the economic insecurity drivers of the demand of populism are significant, especially when considering the key interactions with turnout incentives, neglected in previous studies. Once turnout effects are taken into account, economic insecurity drives consensus to populist policies directly and through indirect negative effects on trust and attitudes towards immigrants. On the supply side, populist parties are more likely to emerge when countries are faced with a systemic crisis of economic security. The orientation choice of populist parties, i.e., whether they arise on left or right of the political spec- trum, is determined by the availability of political space. The typical mainstream parties response is to reduce the distance of their platform from that of successful populist entrants, amplifying the aggregate supply of populist policies.
MAIN TRENDS IN MEDIA COVERAGE OF SOCIOPOLITICAL PROCESSES IN UKRAINE IN 2014-...DonbassFullAccess
The document analyzes trends in media coverage of socio-political events in Ukraine from 2014 to 2017 based on monitoring by NGO Detector Media. It finds that for many years, the political views expressed by private Ukrainian TV channels have been defined by the interests of their oligarchic owners rather than objective journalism. Following Ukraine's 2014 revolution, some channels began transforming into public broadcasters, but oligarchic media groups still dominate the landscape. The monitoring found violations of journalism standards increased in news coverage, especially invited commentary that censored opposing views. Overall the analysis shows oligarchic influence and lack of strong public media have hampered quality coverage of political issues important to Ukrainian society.
This document discusses how a British broadsheet newspaper represented the Greek national elections in 2012 through the lens of the ongoing financial crisis in Europe. It analyzes the use of speech representation, which involves reporting the words of those involved in the Greek elections and related events. The author argues that this serves to construct a polarized image of the crisis by framing Greece and Europe in an oppositional relationship, positioning Greece as either dependent on or independent from Europe. This framing helps maintain existing power structures and social inequalities.
In the context of the systemic transformation of international relations and the global challenges of the new order, States faced a whole range of problems, the solution of which was beyond the power of individual institutions or structures at the regional or global levels. It was the states at the individual and collective levels that were able to mobilize internal and external financial resources, work out a package of anti crisis measures and keep the development of their own economies in a relatively resistant state, and ensure the revival of the dynamics of development. Ulugbeck A. Khasanov | Khabibullo Sadibakosev "Imperative of Nation-State in Modern World" Published in International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (ijtsrd), ISSN: 2456-6470, Volume-5 | Issue-2 , February 2021, URL: https://www.ijtsrd.com/papers/ijtsrd38581.pdf Paper Url: https://www.ijtsrd.com/humanities-and-the-arts/political-science/38581/imperative-of-nationstate-in-modern-world/ulugbeck-a-khasanov
This document provides an overview of party politics in Kenya from the pre-colonial period through independence. It discusses:
1) Kenya's early history and the influence of Arab traders on coastal alignments. Colonialism in the 19th century further reshaped groupings as the British established protectorates.
2) After independence, Jomo Kenyatta established KANU as the dominant party and used concepts like "Harambee" to encourage alliances across ethnic groups and limit opposition.
3) Under Daniel arap Moi in the 1980s, KANU transitioned to a "party-state" as the sole party, tightly controlling politics. Scholars have analyzed why single-party systems
European Border Dialogues 2013 presentation by Vugar BayramovEva Rybkova
This document discusses the root causes and real characteristics of conflicts, as well as the causal mechanisms and approaches to cross-border cooperation. It identifies several endogenous and exogenous root causes of conflicts, including territorial and ethnic issues, great power politics, weak institutions, and historical legacies. It also examines the role of external actors and endogenous social and economic factors in conflicts. The document recommends approaches like promoting international law standards, peace-oriented education and propaganda, grassroots dialogue, and civil society engagement to improve cross-border cooperation.
Polish Printed Media Coverage and Evaluation of the Polish Presidency in the ...Agnieszka Stępińska
The document discusses a study analyzing Polish print media coverage of Poland's first presidency of the European Union Council in 2011. It examines how four daily newspapers (Gazeta Wyborcza, Rzeczpospolita, Nasz Dziennik, and Fakt) and three weekly magazines (Polityka, Wprost, and Uważam Rze. Inaczej pisane) portrayed and evaluated the presidency. The study found that while the newspapers' political biases could have led to differing evaluations, most coverage was neutral. Gazeta Wyborcza and Fakt had the highest levels of neutral assessments at 67% and 57%, while Rzeczpospolita and Nasz D
The Greek bail-out was highly controversial. An oft-heard assessment is that i) the bail-out was a mistake, ii) the political haggling over it was irrational and iii) the bail-out will create a moral hazard problem. Contrary to this view, our analysis suggests that, given EMU’s present political-economic set-up, i) the bail-out was unavoidable, ii) the lengthy process of political haggling leading to it was understandable, and iii) the bail-out does not have to be necessarily associated with a future moral hazard problem. Based on our analysis, we suggest that the EMU’s institutional design could be improved by establishing ‘exit rules’ and that bail-outs should be made rule-based. We have based our analysis on a politicaleconomic, game-theoretic model that helps to understand why and how the parties involved in the Greek crisis arrived at the bail-out and on what conditions the final solution depended. The model allows tracing analytically the dynamics of the negotiation processes as well as the conditions and parameters on which the scope and limits of fiscal redistribution in EMU depends. In doing so, we formally take account of the ‘negative externality’ problem that has been central to policy debates related to the EMU’s institutional design and has played an important role in the Greek crisis. However, contrary to the existing literature, we do not only focus on the economic aspects of such negative externality, but also look at where they emanate from and interact with political factors, in particular the dynamics of the political negotiation process within the EMU.
Authored by: Christian Fahrholz, Cezary Wojcik
Published in 2010
CWWPP Children And Youth Presentation Cwwpp 2008 08guest3ddc62
The Coalition for Work with Psychotrauma and Peace (CWWPP) is a non-profit organization providing psychological assistance and education in Croatia and the Netherlands. It works in the region of Vukovar, Croatia, which experienced significant violence and trauma during the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s. The CWWPP aims to help individuals and communities recover from trauma through counseling, education programs, and advocacy. It also conducts research on trauma and mental health challenges facing the region.
I. International Relation between two Wars
Russian Revolution, Fascism, League of Nations, Second World War
II. Cold War
Decolonization in Asia and Africa.
Rise of United States and Soviet Union,
Era of Tight Bipolarity, Détente and Loose Bipolarity, Revival of Cold War
III. Post Cold War
End of History, Clash of Civilization, Terrorism, Globalization, unipolarity New
world Order
IV. International and Regional Organizations
League of Nation, United Nations, Regional Organizations, EU, ASEAN, NAFTA,
SAARC, SCO, OIC, ECO, WTO.
Reforms in the United Nations, World Bank and the IMF
V. Foreign Policy of Selected Countries
USA, Russia, China, UK, India, Pakistan and EU
VI. South Asia
Peace-making and Peace-Building in South Asia: Analytical overview of peace
processes between/among the states of South Asia especially between India and
Pakistan.
India and Pakistan: Overview of agreements and accords, Indus Water Treaty;
Composite Dialogue; Sir Creek & Siachen border, Visa and People to people
contact; Trade; and Role of civil society
Afghanistan: Cold war theatre; Soviet Invasion Mujahedeen; Geneva Accord; Post
Cold War situation---Rise of Taliban, AL-Qeada & 9/11; Operation Enduring
Freedom; The Bonn Process- Withdrawal
95
Revised Scheme and Syllabus for CSS Competitive Examination-2016
VII. Weapons of Mass Destruction
Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons
Nuclear Weapon States- Programs and Postures: Indian-Pakistan Nuclear
Doctrines
Nuclear Non –Proliferation Regime: International Atomic Energy Agency, Nuclear
Non- proliferation Treaty; Nuclear Supplier Group; Partial Test Ban Treaty;
Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty; Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty
Challenges of Non-Proliferation, Nuclear Civil Deal Regime
The Missile Defence Systems and their impact on global strategic environment
Militarization and Weaponization of Space.
VIII. Contemporary Issues
Indian Ocean and PACIFIC Ocean; Great Powers Moves and hegemony
Kashmir Issue
Palestine Issue
The paper presents the contemporary information policy implemented by
the Ukrainian government. The survey answers the question about the new role of information policy in the state authorities’ activities. The research focuses on the executive branch of power, due to its impact on the internal and external image of Ukraine.
The analysis was conducted at the strategic, institutional and operational levels, and
concerned the content of messages.
Much of the study of politics centers on the tension between human agency and constraints on choice. Political leaders typically emphasize their ability to act in a sovereign fashion, describing politics as the art of the possible. What they less often refer to are the institutional and structural constraints that they face when trying to chart a new path. The old pathway is hard to escape, making them all captives of a certain path dependency.
Migrant Integration: The European Experience and Prospects for RussiaRussian Council
This working paper was prepared as part of the Russian International Affairs Council’s project International Migration Processes: Trends, Challenges and Prospects. Whereas Europe has dealt with mass influxes of immigrants since the 1950s, Russia only encountered this phenomenon relatively recently. Europe’s experience with migrant integration, which will be considered in this working paper, might be useful to Russia in resolving similar issues. The author identifies a range of specific programmes and measures to ease the process of including immigrants and their descendants into the host country’s social institutions, and he offers several recommendations regarding the prospects for integrating migrants in Russia.
This panel organised by Dr Calzada and chaired by Dr Herrschel, has been accepted to be into the programme of UACES (The Academic Association for Contemporary European Studies) Conference in Bilbao.
European regional context is being transformed by the increasingly demand of the sub-national territorial units to reach more devolution and even independence. Under the same devolution regional trend though, many manifestations can be identified that remark their new relationship with their referential nation-states. This panel looks at the concept such as 'devolution', 'independence' and 'self determination' in order to find theoretical and policy-informed evidences in the European arena. Moreover, it looks into ways in which the phenomenon could be explained from different perspective such as, city-regionalism, comparative politics, urban and spatial planning, city diplomacy and social innovation, among others.
- The EU emerged from unique historical circumstances and has become a project promoting peace between nations. It exists in a gray area between a supranational and intergovernmental organization, with sovereignty divided between states and a centralized governance.
- The EU aims to preserve members' identities while creating a new pan-European identity respecting diversity. Its identity is characterized by democratic values, human rights, and the rule of law inherited from Western nations.
- While the EU's expansion faces limits, integrating countries like Croatia could help unify Europe if done gradually with wisdom and patience. Croatia is working to translate EU laws and hoping to complete negotiations to join by 2011.
The document discusses how the Lisbon Treaty has implications for European citizenship and identity over national identity. It argues that the Treaty forces some EU member state laws to be superseded by common European laws, bringing citizens of EU states together under a common identity with shared rights and obligations. This favors the development of a European identity over solely national identities among EU citizens. The Treaty reinforces concepts from the earlier proposed but rejected EU Constitution, but avoids national referendums. This shift toward a European identity may reduce euroscepticism and increase EU citizens' participation in and support for European integration policies over time.
The emergence of a europe wide public sphere slow but surelyAusten Uche Uwosomah
The document summarizes the implications of the European Constitution and Treaty of Lisbon on European citizenry. It discusses how the rejection of the initial European Constitution led EU institutions to pursue the Treaty of Lisbon to achieve similar goals. The Treaty of Lisbon strengthens EU institutions' power over member states and establishes common EU laws, policies, and citizenship that will unite Europeans under a shared identity. This is expected to encourage the emergence of a Europe-wide public sphere as EU citizens become more invested in EU policies that will increasingly impact their lives more than national policies.
15.5/20
Political life of the European Medieval Culture
The European high Middle Ages, lasted from about 1050 to 1300, suggest for most people a cultural interval between the standard period of the Greeks and Roman society and the Renaissance. The idea is on contrary to High Middle Ages which was a dynamic period that developed the identity of the European and development being stimulated by the interactions of the European with other cultures in the Mediterranean and the Eurasia. Most of the political and social forms and institutions afterward connected to the European history were founded in the times of this era. Comment by student: Essentially this is your thesis statement
This paper looks into the political life of the European Medieval Culture and its contribution to the recent politics in the European Society. It is believed that the political organization that exists in Europe now was something that began in the ancient times. These political practices were inherited, carried from one generation to another, being shaped and changed depending on the new experiences and innovations in life. The paper is therefore to give the correct an understanding of how the European political life developed up to where it stands now and what led to the changes that were made to make up the modern politics in the European society. The paper therefore comes out to argue that several upcoming factors in the medieval culture of Europe helped in the shaping of the current European political practices.
Bibliography
Alphabetical order
AlSayyad, Nezar, and Manuel Castells. Muslim Europe or Euro-Islam: politics, culture, and citizenship in the age of globalization. Lexington Books, 2002.
This article is important as it looks into the changing of realities and identity perception within the Europe. There is the need for full acknowledgement of the fact of ethnic diversity and religion. Muslim population got themselves part of a complex procedure of the European identity reconstruction and deconstruction from the above and below. The existence of the Islam within the European borders is pushing the reexamination of what it stands to be European, and giving profound and confusing questions about citizenship issues, civil society participation, and political recognition and being included or excluded. This article therefore gives why the composition of the Europe is full of the Christian population as compared to Muslim and what led to this and the distribution of the two religions. This also gives the making of the laws according to the religion that holds the power most, and thus in Europe the political life was some howsomehow most guided by the Christian religion. This therefore come up with religion as one of the factors that contributed to the political power in the European with Christians being many as compared to the Muslims thus controlling a large part of the Europe.
Anderson, James. "The shifting stage of politics: new medieval.
Civic european cities in the age of national populismCity of Gdansk
This document discusses the rise of national populism in Europe and its implications. It makes three key points:
1) There is currently a clash between ethnic nationalism promoted by national populists and civic nationalism constrained by rule of law in the EU. National populists imagine the nation as having common ethnic roots while civic nationalism is more inclusive.
2) National populism in countries like Hungary and Poland has led to the deterioration of democracy, including attacks on the media, judiciary, and civil society. This threatens the core values of the EU.
3) National populists claim to defend national sovereignty but their version of ethnic nationalism is incompatible with the civic, inclusive form of nationalism that underpins the EU. Their
An Interpretation Of The Migrant Crisis Constructivism Vs. MarxismNathan Mathis
- Constructivism and Marxism theories are used to analyze the migrant crisis involving Europe. Constructivism focuses on how social interactions shape identities and norms, while Marxism examines economic factors.
- Under constructivism, the European Union's identity and norms were socially constructed by member states through treaties, shaping it as a normative power pursuing values like democracy and human rights. This constructed identity attracts migrants.
- Migrants have varying identities as well - economic migrants seeking better lives, refugees fleeing persecution under the refugee convention, or asylum seekers awaiting application outcomes. However, the distinctions between these identities have blurred in the Syrian crisis.
This document summarizes a research paper on cooperation between Finland, Hungary, and Estonia based on their shared Finno-Ugric ethnic links. It discusses the foreign policy narratives of the three countries and how their shared cultural and linguistic heritage with Finno-Ugric peoples in Russia has led to some institutionalized cooperation. However, the paper finds that while there is rhetoric of cooperation, there is limited evidence of substantial cooperation in influencing the EU's policies towards Russia or in advocating for the rights of Finno-Ugric minorities in Russia. The paper aims to analyze whether shared ethnic backgrounds can facilitate foreign policy cooperation between EU member states.
The Eurozone Crisis and the Democratic DeficitMiqui Mel
This document summarizes a conference on the democratic deficit and Eurozone crisis. It includes summaries of papers presented at the conference on topics related to the democratic legitimacy of EU institutions and policy responses to the crisis. One paper argues that greater political union is needed to legitimately and effectively address the crisis, while others fear this could compound economic and political problems given differences between member states. The introduction provides context on the conference and debates issues of democracy, solidarity and diversity in the EU framework.
The Belgian Curtain - Europe after CommunismSam Vaknin
- The document discusses the competing influences of the European Union (EU) and NATO in Europe following the fall of Communism. It argues that NATO has expanded its influence and membership more aggressively, while the EU has struggled to establish its authority in foreign policy and security.
- The EU needs the economic and demographic benefits of expanding its membership to include Central and Eastern European countries. However, joining may impose significant costs and challenges for the candidate countries. Their accession could force reforms of the EU's agricultural subsidies and burden its budget.
- Historically, Europe alternated between alliances seeking a balance of power and periods of armed conflict, until the end of WWII brought foreign occupation and the imposition of the Cold War system by the
This document proposes a six-volume book series titled "Making Europe: Technologies and Transformations, 1850-2000". The series will explore how various European spaces were constructed and integrated since 1850 through technological developments and their social implications. Each of the six volumes will focus on a different aspect of technological change in Europe, such as infrastructure networks, consumer goods, media and communication, expertise and innovation, and will analyze how technologies helped shape the European integration process. The proposal provides details on the scope and themes of each volume, the authors involved, marketing and sales plans, and notes that the series builds on over a decade of collaborative research on the history of technology in Europe.
The document discusses two perspectives for understanding the power of ethno-politics in the contemporary world: a political-pragmatic approach and a social-psychological approach. The political approach analyzes how ethnic groups can use ethno-politics to gain material and political outcomes. It also examines the role of ethno-political entrepreneurs and how ethno-politics can destabilize states and international relations. The social-psychological approach focuses on how ethno-politics provides individuals with a sense of identity and security, especially during times of social and political uncertainty.
This document discusses the European Union's relationship with post-communist states in Eastern Europe. It outlines three approaches the EU has taken: 1) Continuing integration of Southeast European states; 2) Establishing the European Neighborhood Policy for Eastern European states while avoiding discussions of EU membership; 3) Maintaining a "strategic partnership" with Russia focused on traditional foreign policy. The document also presents three scenarios for how the region may develop in the coming years based on whether Central European integration and prosperity spreads outward or stagnates.
This article addresses relations between Europe and the countries of the Middle East and the
implications of these relationships over the past two decades, through an examination of the events of
the ‘Arab Spring.’ The Arab Spring refers to a chain of events that swept through the Arab countries
from late 2010, characterized by demonstrations, violence, and civil war. This was sparked by resistance to tyrannical regimes and led to the fall of the rulers of Egypt, Tunisia, and Libya. However,
Islamists were able to utilize the protesters, who sought democracy, an equal economy, and the elimination of governmental corruption, to further their ambitions. At that time, it was not clear what the new
regimes would look like, but it was widely expected that Islamist elements would gain power. Europe
responded positively to these events, in terms of declarations, policy, and physical involvement, from
the fear that Islamist forces would take advantage of the outcomes of the protests, despite the fact that,
for decades, there had been collaboration and friendly relations between Western nations and many of
the overthrown tyrants. This policy of turning a blind eye to the lack of democracy and human rights
violations in these countries, however, had been perceived by many as contrary to European values. On
May 25, 2011, the European Union published a document admitting their failure to achieve political
reforms in the neighboring Arab countries. Following the events of the Arab Spring, a new approach
to strengthening the partnership between Europe and the Arab world was needed. The objectives of
European policy towards the Muslim world include halting massive Muslim migration, reducing the
influence of fundamentalist and radical Islam in the Middle East and among Muslims in Europe, and
ensuring a supply of energy resources obtained from these countries. Meeting these challenges will be
a significant step in the right direction.
The document discusses the evolution and role of cities throughout history as a European invention. Cities helped form identities in the past and this could help unite Europe. Contemporary Europe includes diverse cultures that cities are best equipped to cope with. Essential values like democracy and citizenship emerged from cities. Cities act as melting pots that produce new ideas through architecture, planning and the mixing of people and cultures. Nationalism later reduced cities' autonomy but their role in identity formation remains important.
Squaring the Circle? EU-Israel Relations and the Peace Process in the Middle ...thinkingeurope2011
This document provides an overview of relations between Israel and the European Union (EU). It discusses the historical background of their relationship dating back to the 1950s. While Israel and the EU have enjoyed growing economic cooperation, there remain political differences between them, especially regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The document examines challenges in the EU's relations with both Israel and the Palestinian Authority and seeks to provide policy recommendations to help bridge political gaps and reconcile the two bilateral tracks in a coherent framework.
The Regional Development of Democratization and Civil Society: Transition, Co...Przegląd Politologiczny
Different starting points, similar processes and different outcomes can be identified when comparing East Central Europe and East and South Asia. The two regions face similar global challenges, follow regional patterns of democratization and face crises. In communist times, East Central Europe was
economically marginalized in the world economy, while some parts of Asia integrated well in the global
economy under authoritarian rule. Europeanization and a favorable external environment encouraged the
former communist countries to opt for the Western-style rule of law and democracy. Different external
factors helped the Third Wave democracies in Asia, especially South Korea and Taiwan, which benefited
from the support of the United States and other global economic, military and cultural partnerships to
develop their human rights culture and democracy while facing their totalitarian counterparts, namely the
People’s Republic of China and North Korea. The very different positions Taiwan and Hungary have in
their respective regions follow from the different capacities of their transformation management since
1988–1989. Taiwan preserved its leading role and stable democracy despite the threat to its sovereignty
from the People’s Republic of China. Hungary never had such an influential and problematic neighbor
and was ensured security and welfare partnership by the European Union, which Taiwan lacked. While
Taiwan was less secure, economic and social conditions were more favorable for democratization than
those in Hungary. Hungary, in turn, held a leading position in democratization processes in the period of
post-communist transition which was lost during the crisis and conflicts of the last decade (after 2006 and
especially since 2010). Despite the fact that liberalization prepared the way for peaceful transition in both
countries and resulted in similar processes of democratic consolidation in the 1990s, Hungary joined the
‘loser’ group in its region, whereas Taiwan is among the top ‘winning’ countries in its region. Taiwan at the
moment is starting comprehensive reform processes toward enhanced democracy, civil rights and the rule
of law, and Hungarian development is criticized by many external and internal analysts as straying from the
path of European-style consolidated democracies towards illiberal trends and hybridization. Western global
concepts of democratization may help to identify similarities and differences, and compare stronger and
weaker factors in the democratic transitions in Asia and Europe within the Third Wave democracies.
The Spread Of Soviet-Backed Communism Across Eastern...Rachel Davis
The document discusses the spread of Soviet-backed communism across Eastern Europe after World War II. It argues that while resistance was unlikely to succeed given Soviet control over the region, the outcome was not entirely inevitable. Some key points made include:
- The liberal democracies that emerged after WWI in Eastern Europe were weakened by various factors, making authoritarianism the norm by WWII.
- The region lacked stable nation states and faced ethnic tensions, undermining democratic foundations.
- The power vacuum left by WWII allowed communists to consolidate power where democratic forces had been destroyed.
- However, the processes by which different states became Soviet satellites were not uniform, and Western aid may have influenced outcomes, indicating multiple
The paper shows insight into the Polish response to the elections to the European Parliament held in 1979. It focuses on the opinions presented by journalists in the Polish press, and
also highlights the response of the Ministry of the Interior of the Polish People’s Republic to the
EEC’s political unification process announced after 1975. The paper also presents the response
of the public in the EEC ‘nine’ to the important event that the elections to the European Parliament were
Artykuł dotyczy ewolucji stanowiska rządów Polski wobec kolejnych etapów rozwoju europejskiej autonomii strategicznej (Europejska Tożsamości Bezpieczeństwa i Obrony), Europejskiej Polityki Bezpieczeństwa i Obrony oraz Wspólna Europejska Polityka Bezpieczeństwa
i Obrony Unii Europejskiej). Wyodrębnione zostały dwa etapy polskiej Polityki; przed akcesją
do UE oraz udział Polski w ESDP/WPBiO, po przystąpieniu do UE. Podczas sprawowania przez
Polskę Prezydencji w Radzie, jednym z priorytetów było doskonalenie zdolności wojskowych
i systemu reagowania kryzysowego. Scharakteryzowano oficjalne stanowisko władz polskich
wobec integracji systemu bezpieczeństwa UE wyrażone w dokumentach strategicznych. Ostatni taki dokument został opublikowany w maju 2017 r. w Ministerstwie Obrony Narodowej.
Zwrócono uwagę na sytuacje kryzysowe w problemach dotyczących integracji europejskiej
oraz na brak zainteresowania aktualnych władz politycznych Polski udziałem w reformowaniu
systemu bezpieczeństwa UE.
Państwa Unii Europejskiej, po ogłoszeniu przez Wielką Brytanię decyzji o opuszczeniu
Wspólnoty, muszą ponownie zredefiniować swoje podejście do polityki obronnej i kluczowej
w tym zakresie Wspólnej Polityki Bezpieczeństwa i Obrony. Inicjatywy podjęte w ostatnim
czasie w obszarze uwiarygodniania UE na arenie międzynarodowej, wskazują na determinację
pozostałych państw członkowskich, by budować politykę obronną w oparciu o projekty, które
przez lata nie miały szansy na urzeczywistnienie, właśnie z powodu sprzeciwu Londynu.
The article is based on an analysis of national and international legislation, on documentation and on the subject literature. It aims to present the adaptation process of Polish consumer
policy to European standards. The article discusses the legal basis for the adjustment of national
consumer legislation and the strategies of consumer policies towards the European Union. The
second part of the article describes the process of adjustment of Polish legislation to the EU
legislation. The last part includes concluding remarks and elaborations concerning the actual
problems of the Union connected with the implementation of consumer-protection-related regulations into the national legal standards, the function and the role of relevant consumer policy.
The article is based on the assumption that the politics of Vladimir Mečiar, in particular human rights breaches, negatively inluenced the process of Slovakia’s accession to the European
Union. Another hypothesis is that in comparison to other countries of Central Europe, Slovak
political parties reached a national consensus concerning accession to the European Union.
Celem przedstawionych badań jest analiza procesu decyzyjnego w UE w odniesieniu do
nakładania i rozszerzania sankcji wobec Rosji oraz ocena przyczyny trwałości decyzji i porozumienia między państwami członkowskimi UE, pomimo odmiennego stanowiska. W szczególności artykuł analizuje proces decyzyjny, dynamikę oraz zmiany zachodzące w ramach grup
roboczych Rady, takich jak COEST (Grupa Robocza ds. Europy Wschodniej i Azji Środkowej)
dla Ukrainy, Białorusi oraz Rosji. Badania pokazują, że czynniki geopolityczne oraz ekonomiczne mają bardzo duże znaczenie w tworzeniu dynamiki, jaka zachodziła w grupach doradczych Rady Europejskiej, niemniej jednak pomimo tych różnic jednomyślność jest w dużej
mierze wynikiem działań Francji i Niemiec.
The author analyzes how the concept of “traditional values” is used in the political discourse
of the Russian authorities. Since the third term of Vladimir Putin, there has been a noticeable
neo-conservative turn in Russian politics, expressed both in the strengthening of the influence
of religion and in the tightening of legislation. An active role in this is played by the leadership
of the Russian Orthodox Church, which openly supports the current regime and strengthens
its own influence on public life, regardless of the absence of direct religious demands of Russian society. The concept of “traditional values” is thus politically motivated, interpreted as an
opposition to liberal values (an example is the homophobic policy of the Russian authorities)
and is aimed at contrasting Russian values with Western ones. The author describes how this
discourse is aimed, principally, at consolidating the conservative electorate within the country
and spreading Russian influence on “conservatives” from other countries. This reflects the need
to search for effective ways to counter populist rhetoric.
Tekst przybliża regulacje unijne dotyczące współpracy rozwojowej i wskazuje mechanizm
wpływu, jaki wywierają one na wypełnianie roli donatora przez wstępujące do Unii Europejskiej (UE) państwa. Analiza nie ogranicza się tylko do norm prawnych, płynących choćby
z traktatów, ale rozpatruje również dokumenty tworzące zobowiązania o charakterze politycznym, które nota bene dominują w sferze unijnej kooperacji rozwojowej. Najbardziej aktualnym
zbiorem zasad drugiego typu jest Nowy Europejski Konsensus w sprawie Rozwoju z 2017 r.
W tekście weryfikowana jest hipoteza głosząca, że regulacje unijne są czynnikiem bezpośrednio wymuszającym podjęcie roli donatora pomocy rozwojowej przez kraj wstępujący do
UE, a następnie determinującym kształt i wielkość jego współpracy rozwojowej.
This article analyzes the scope of cooperation at the institutional and bilateral level of the
European Union and Central Asia. Despite the systematic tightening of cooperation between
Brussels and the republics of the former USSR, there is still a lack of unambiguous definition
of real long-term interests of the European Union in the region. The fundamental problem of
cooperation development is a strong fragmentation of EU activities in five different republics
of Central Asia. Therefore, there is a need to improve the exchange of information, increase
control and coordination, as well as limit the thematic scope of undertaken initiatives. There are
potential diversification opportunities for energy sources that exist in the Central Asia region.
China’s Belt and Road Initiative is both an opportunity and challenge for Central Asian
countries and the European Union. As an initiative announced in Astana, it may make Europe
closer to Asia through railway connections. Its scope, proposed infrastructural investments and
different connections and routes, additional initiatives and diplomacy suggest OBOR is in line
with the global Chinese strategy.
In the paper, the author analyses three years of the rule of the left-wing SYRIZA in Greece.
She discusses the basis of the party’s historical victory in the parliamentary elections in 2015.
In addition, she analyses the course of negotiations with Greek creditors regarding the third
economic adjustment programme for Greece. She also points out the necessity of gradual resignation from anti-austerity agenda and social reactions against introduced reforms. In the final
part, the author of the paper outlines the current challenges of the Greek government.
In 2018 the European Union (EU) recalled that the future of the Western Balkans lies in the
EU. The vision of an “European (Union) future” was announced to the Balkan countries fifteen
years earlier, in 2003, when they were recognized as a potential candidates for membership in
the EU.
In 2016 Sarajevo decided to apply for membership in the European Union. Therefore, the
main aim of this article is to analyse the possibility of joining the EU by Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is necessary to identify – even if chosen – opportunities and challenges, perspectives
and barriers on the path to further integration of that country with Brussels. The background of
these considerations must be the EU’s policy towards the Western Balkans region, which lost its
dynamics with the beginning of the second decade of the 21st century, and is trying to retrieve
if for various reasons nowadays. Will Bosnia and Herzegovina benefit from the intensification
of the EU’s enlargement policy?
Bałkany Zachodnie od lat zajmują istotne miejsce w polityce Unii Europejskiej, która postrzega ten region jako istotny z punktu widzenia bezpieczeństwa europejskiego. Jednym ze
sposobów stabilizacji i umacniania pokoju w regionie jest jego zbliżenie ze strukturami unijnej współpracy. Proces ten jest determinowany różnorodnymi czynnikami natury politycznej,
społecznej, gospodarczej, kulturowej. W artykule uwaga została skoncentrowana na analizie
determinantów procesu zbliżenia Albanii z UE, określeniu perspektyw jej akcesji do Unii, oraz
wyartykułowaniu korzyści płynących z poszerzenia UE o państwa Bałkanów Zachodnich. Dodatkowo zwraca się uwagę na możliwe implikacje akcesji Albanii z perspektywy bezpieczeństwa UE.
Celem artykułu jest przegląd polityki Unii Europejskiej wobec Afryki w kontekście kryzysu migracyjnego w latach 2011–2017. Analiza źródeł w postaci aktów prawnych i dokumentów Unii Europejskiej pozwoliła na identyfikację zmian w wymiarze zewnętrznym różnych
polityk unijnych adresowanych do państw afrykańskich. W niniejszej pracy skupiono są na
przedstawieniu ram polityki Unii Europejskiej wobec Afryki. Następnie przybliżono zjawisko intensyfikacji migracji z tego kontynentu do Europy. Zaprezentowano także odpowiedź Unii
Europejskiej na problem wzmożonej presji na granice zewnętrzne.
Zaangażowanie parlamentów państw członkowskich w dyskusję nad problemem nielegalnej migracji do UE przybrało na sile w latach 2015 i 2016. Artykuł omawia uprawnienia przysługujące parlamentom na mocy traktatu lizbońskiego, pozwalające im wpływać na procesy
polityczne w UE, w szczególności w ramach polityki migracyjnej, azylowej i kontroli granic.
Następnie przedstawiono aktywność parlamentów w latach 2015–2017 wobec propozycji legislacyjnych KE dotyczących mechanizmu relokacji i przesiedleń oraz reformy wspólnego europejskiego systemu azylowego. Uzyskane wnioski pozwalają stwierdzić, że najczęściej używanymi przez parlamenty instrumentami była współpraca międzyparlamentarna, kontrola przestrzegania zasady pomocniczości
oraz dialog polityczny. Ze względu na brak niezbędnych aktów wykonawczych pozwalających
prowadzić kontrolę działań Europolu, parlamenty w latach 2015–2017 nie wykorzystywały
w ogóle spotkań grupy ds. wspólnej kontroli parlamentarnej w ramach przestrzeni wolności,
bezpieczeństwa i sprawiedliwości. Jednocześnie można było zauważyć, że parlamenty narodowe państw negatywnie ustosunkowanych do przyjmowania imigrantów, czyli przede wszystkim
państw z Europy Środkowo-Wschodniej, były bardziej aktywne na forum UE niż parlamenty
państw pozytywnie nastawionych do migrantów.
Wzrost gospodarczy w strefie euro pozostaje na poziomie niższym od oczekiwanego, pomimo działań podejmowanych przez instytucje Unii Europejskiej i przez rządy państw członkowskich. Przyczyn obecnej sytuacji gospodarczej strefy euro należy poszukiwać jednak nie tylko
wśród czynników ekonomicznych, ale także politycznych i społecznych. Przed rokiem 2008
strefa euro postrzegana była jako sukces europejskiej integracji, głosy krytyczne były nieliczne i słabo słyszalne. Sytuacja uległa zasadniczej zmianie po wybuchu kryzysu gospodarczego
i finansowego. Kryzys w strefie euro nie tylko dowiódł, że mechanizmy działania strefy są
wadliwe, ale również, że kraje tworzące strefę mają poważny problem z identyfikacją swojego
miejsca i roli w jednoczącej się Europie. Celem artykułu jest charakterystyka i analiza mechanizmów działania strefy euro, które przyczyniły się do wybuchu kryzysu w strefie. Szczególna
uwaga zostanie poświęcona kwestii swobody przepływu kapitału w kontekście prowadzonej
przez EBC jednolitej polityki pieniężnej i braku wspólnej polityki fiskalnej.
Cooperation between France and Germany is crucial for the future of the European Union.
Slowed down by lengthy coalition negotiations in the aftermath of German elections, chancel
lor Merkel has been late to give an answer to reform proposals from president Macron. There
have been a few improvements concerning European defence policy and the Posting of Workers
Directive. More important topics, including European financial policy, are still being vividly
debated. Aside from current difficulties and strong reservations from within Merkel’s conservative party, the way for a practicable compromise seems to be paved.
The article presents the political and media process of the formation of the public opinion
between Germany and the Russian Federation on the background of increasing the East-West
crisis, especially taking into consideration the Neue Ostpolitik that Germany is following. With
the beginning of the Ukraine-Russia conflict and after the western sanctions were imposed on
Moscow, the Russia propaganda machine started to work on every political, economic and
media level. The paper analyses its system and mechanism in the context of the dynamically
changing international order. The author identifies the German Russlandversteher, defines the
most active institutional forms of the German-Russia cooperation and economic contacts under
the patronage of both governments that can have influence on decision process of the German
government. To the most important actors in the Russian lobbying belong German political parties, representatives of the German world of culture, art, media, whose popularity can modify
the perception of the Russian politics against the Ukraine and the European Union.
Pursuant to the German constitution, the Bundestag exercises parliamentary control over
the government’s European policy. In its activities in the European Union the government must
take account of the Bundestag’s proposals. The 2009 Competencies Laws strengthened the parliament’s position in European government policy, making any major decision on EU matters
practically dependent on the consent of the Bundestag. According to the author, although this
severely restricted Chancellor Merkel’s freedom of action, it did not paralyze the government’s
European initiatives. The German Parliament behaved responsibly, especially during the financial crisis in the eurozone, allowing financial support for Greece, the establishment of the
European Stability Mechanism and the establishment of the Banking Union
The document discusses the perspective of Germany on China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). It can be summarized in 3 sentences:
Germany's perspective on the BRI has gone through two phases - an initial phase from 2013-2016 where the initiative received little public attention in Germany, and a current phase since 2016 where Chinese investments in German companies have increased scrutiny but Germany also supports the initiative and sees opportunities for cooperation. The document analyzes these two phases from the perspective of liberal international relations theories focusing on the roles of state and non-state actors in shaping foreign policy.
लालू यादव की जीवनी LALU PRASAD YADAV BIOGRAPHYVoterMood
Discover the life and times of Lalu Prasad Yadav with a comprehensive biography in Hindi. Learn about his early days, rise in politics, controversies, and contribution.
15062024_First India Newspaper Jaipur.pdfFIRST INDIA
Find Latest India News and Breaking News these days from India on Politics, Business, Entertainment, Technology, Sports, Lifestyle and Coronavirus News in India and the world over that you can't miss. For real time update Visit our social media handle. Read First India NewsPaper in your morning replace. Visit First India.
CLICK:- https://firstindia.co.in/
#First_India_NewsPaper
Recent years have seen a disturbing rise in violence, discrimination, and intolerance against Christian communities in various Islamic countries. This multifaceted challenge, deeply rooted in historical, social, and political animosities, demands urgent attention. Despite the escalating persecution, substantial support from the Western world remains lacking.
केरल उच्च न्यायालय ने 11 जून, 2024 को मंडला पूजा में भाग लेने की अनुमति मांगने वाली 10 वर्षीय लड़की की रिट याचिका को खारिज कर दिया, जिसमें सर्वोच्च न्यायालय की एक बड़ी पीठ के समक्ष इस मुद्दे की लंबित प्रकृति पर जोर दिया गया। यह आदेश न्यायमूर्ति अनिल के. नरेंद्रन और न्यायमूर्ति हरिशंकर वी. मेनन की खंडपीठ द्वारा पारित किया गया
16062024_First India Newspaper Jaipur.pdfFIRST INDIA
Find Latest India News and Breaking News these days from India on Politics, Business, Entertainment, Technology, Sports, Lifestyle and Coronavirus News in India and the world over that you can't miss. For real time update Visit our social media handle. Read First India NewsPaper in your morning replace. Visit First India.
CLICK:- https://firstindia.co.in/
#First_India_NewsPaper
17062024_First India Newspaper Jaipur.pdfFIRST INDIA
Find Latest India News and Breaking News these days from India on Politics, Business, Entertainment, Technology, Sports, Lifestyle and Coronavirus News in India and the world over that you can't miss. For real time update Visit our social media handle. Read First India NewsPaper in your morning replace. Visit First India.
CLICK:- https://firstindia.co.in/
#First_India_NewsPaper
Slide deck with charts from our Digital News Report 2024, the most comprehensive exploration of news consumption habits around the world, based on survey data from more than 95,000 respondents across 47 countries.
Why We Chose ScyllaDB over DynamoDB for "User Watch Status"ScyllaDB
Yichen Wei and Adam Drennan share the architecture and technical requirements behind "user watch status" for a major global media streaming service, what that meant for their database, the pros and cons of the many options they considered for replacing DynamoDB, why they ultimately chose ScyllaDB, and their lessons learned so far.
13062024_First India Newspaper Jaipur.pdfFIRST INDIA
Find Latest India News and Breaking News these days from India on Politics, Business, Entertainment, Technology, Sports, Lifestyle and Coronavirus News in India and the world over that you can't miss. For real time update Visit our social media handle. Read First India NewsPaper in your morning replace. Visit First India.
CLICK:- https://firstindia.co.in/
#First_India_NewsPaper
projet de traité négocié à Istanbul (anglais).pdfEdouardHusson
Ceci est le projet de traité qui avait été négocié entre Russes et Ukrainiens à Istanbul en mars 2022, avant que les Etats-Unis et la Grande-Bretagne ne détournent Kiev de signer.
19 जून को बॉम्बे हाई कोर्ट ने विवादित फिल्म ‘हमारे बारह’ को 21 जून को थिएटर में रिलीज करने का रास्ता साफ कर दिया, हालांकि यह सुनिश्चित करने के बाद कि फिल्म निर्माता कुछ आपत्तिजनक अंशों को हटा दें।
Christian persecution in Islamic countries has intensified, with alarming incidents of violence, discrimination, and intolerance. This article highlights recent attacks in Nigeria, Pakistan, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq, exposing the multifaceted challenges faced by Christian communities. Despite the severity of these atrocities, the Western world's response remains muted due to political, economic, and social considerations. The urgent need for international intervention is underscored, emphasizing that without substantial support, the future of Christianity in these regions is at grave risk.
https://ecspe.org/the-rise-of-christian-persecution-in-islamic-countries/
The Rise of Christian Persecution In Islamic Countries
The role of ethno-regional parties in European integration. Is it a distractor or a catalyst?
1. Nr 11 ROCZNIK INTEGRACJI EUROPEJSKIEJ 2017
DOI : 10.14746/rie.2017.11.25CEZARY TROSIAK
Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań
The role of ethno-regional parties in European integration.
Is it a distractor or a catalyst?
Introduction
One of the concepts circulated in debates on the ultimate vision for European inte-
gration since the mid-1980s has been, in its essence, the strengthening of the role of the
regions in this process. The aim was to empower European regions and supply them
with more generous funding. Even in those early days, the initiative was criticized by
advocates of preserving the strong position of nation-states in European integration.
Their principal argument has been that the granting of greater autonomy to regions is
bound to harm the national sovereignty of the member states. The article attempts to
explore the extent to which ethno-regional parties, which have come to be associated
with the rise of regionalist tendencies, weaken national states and indirectly strengthen
the EU institutions (the European Commission and the European Parliament). To an-
swer this question, one is compelled to examine Europe’s ethno-regional parties, which
have only recently attracted the interest of Polish political scientists and sociologists.
The author posits that ethno-regional parties have become a significant albeit not
a determining theme in debates on the objectives of European integration. While ad-
vocates of federalism use such parties to demonstrate that strong European regions
are the best possible future that the European Union can have, opponents of federalist
ideas depict regions as an EU Trojan horse that threatens to destroy the very existence
of nation-states from within. The parties’ leaders find themselves conflicted between
appreciating the legal and institutional capacities of the European Union, which allow
them the freedom to pursue their aspirations with the Union’s protection, and the urge
to oppose the Union’s bid to reduce the role of nation-states, which makes the EU an
unlikely strategic partner for groupings that aspire to create their own states. A reason-
able happy medium can be found by establishing territorial autonomy, as proposed
by Jan Iwanek, serving as the middle ground between a territorial self-government
and a federation. “Territorial autonomy today is about exercising public authority in
a decentralized state either across that state’s entire territory or across its substantial
portion, in keeping with the principle of representation, with the authority to set up
a local parliament and a government that answers thereto, and with constitutionally-
protected inalienable rights enshrined in Community legislation and implemented by
an administration that reports to it” (Iwanek, 2014).
In Poland, the issue has acquired particular significance amidst the announcements
that a regular ethno-regional party would be established in the Polish region of Upper
Silesia (Górny Śląsk), and the expectations that the party would mobilize and bring
together Upper Silesian regionalists in the forthcoming municipal elections, capturing
2. 356 Cezary Trosiak RIE 11 ’17
the electoral potential revealed by the 2011 National Population and Housing Census.
Moreover, more research is needed into the future of Europe’s regionalist movements
as the opinion that they are losing momentum following the pan-European tendency of
strengthening nation-states appears to be highly exaggerated.
Impact of European migration processes on the redefinition of regionalism
In the late 1980s, regionalist tendencies in Western Europe surged under the influ-
ence of many factors. Some of them were functional, associated with new ways to
rally the public to engage in politics and a new definition of the social and economic
significance of territory. In essence, the definition emphasized the role of territory as
a basis for processes previously viewed from the perspective of nation-states. There-
fore, unlike on previous occasions when the change was limited to state policies, it
now extended to changing international markets and the emerging new West Euro-
pean order. It was no longer possible to pursue regional policy by relying on the old
mechanisms of territorial regulation and exchange, nor was it as easy as previously
to adjust the policy to existing land use management practices. The state has changed
and, in the process, lost its ability to manage spatial transformations and spatial devel-
opment. The power and authority of the state decayed at multiple levels. One of these
levels, which is the topmost, was the internationalization of social, cultural, economic
(globalization) and political processes. Another, arising in response to developments
at the previous level, were new aspirations and demands formulated by regional and
local communities. This second level tied directly to a third, which was the rise in
power of and the pressures exerted by “civil society”, with all of its many influences.
As a result, these factors brought about a degradation of the prerogatives of the state
in the fields of economic governance, social solidarity, culture and identity formation,
as well as institutional structure. This gave rise to processes which Michael Keating
collectively referred to as the “new regionalism.” Characterized by conjoined features,
“[t]his regionalism goes beyond the framework of the nation-state; and it pits regions
against each other in a competitive mode, rather than providing complementary roles
for them in a national division of labour. The new regionalism is modernizing and
forward-looking, in contrast to an older provincialism, which represented resistance to
change and defence of tradition. Yet both old and new regionalism continue to coex-
ist in uneasy partnership, seeking a new synthesis of the universal and the particular”
(Keating, 1998, p. 73).
While the new regionalism is partly a spin-off of European integration, the question
that arose is how exactly it is going to impact the process. The ideas raised in related
debates cover a very wide spectrum. Urs Altermatt, a Swiss scholar specializing in
modern history, argued that “European integration and regional movements are part of
a single whole. Regionalists are known for their fondness for the European community
in the expectation that Brussels will support their resistance to the centrist leanings of
nation-states [...] Political integration, as seen in the European Union, leads to differ-
entiation at the lowest levels of the political spectrum. The model of a homogeneous
culture reminiscent of nineteenth-century nationalism appears to have no future in the
3. RIE 11 ’17 The role of ethno-regional parties in European integration... 357
late twentieth century. As members of modern societies grow increasingly interde-
pendent in technical, economic, and political terms on the one hand, and in cultural and
political terms on the other, one’s origin has lost most of its significance for people’s
living conditions. This, in turn, causes the classic state to experience difficult times
in Western Europe” (Altermatt, 1998, pp. 227–228). Although Altermatt’s conclusion
seemed to be slightly over the top even in the late the 20th
century, the future of the
integration project looked a great deal brighter at the turn of the century. The prospect
of a qualitative leap through the enlargement of the European Union appeared to be
well within grasp. Hitherto, the enlargement had been limited to the same collection
of Western European countries. With every acceding country, the European Union saw
its economic and political power grow stronger. “Eastern enlargement,” as the addition
of Central and Eastern Europe to the Union was called, remained a big unknown. On
the one hand, to use a metaphor coined by Pope John Paul II, Europe was recovering
its “second lung,” albeit amidst fears that the problems Europe experienced with this
part of the Continent throughout the 20th
century, would persist. However, the political
and economic condition of the European Union and the new millennium enthusiasm
drove European politicians, often in spite of anxieties rampant in their societies, to
press ahead boldly. On May 1, 2004, the Union admitted 10 states, most of which had
remained in a different world in terms of politics, ideology, culture and, above all,
economy, until 1989. Obviously, the cost of the enlargement would have to be carried
by the “old” member states. At that time, voices were also heard that were less enthu-
siastic about the consequences of the enlargement on the functioning of the European
Union. Part of the reason was that the ethnic and national conflicts in this part of the
continent, which were placed in deep freeze by Europe’s division in Yalta by the anti-
Nazi alliance, were “unfrozen” in 1989. This revived the fears that Europe would again
become the site of ethnic conflicts rooted in ethnic nationalism. Such fears seemed to
be justified after the experience of the Balkan wars in the late 20th
century. Wawrzyniec
Konarski explicitly stated it was a peculiar paradox of modernity that ethnic rather
than political nationalism1
is currently dominant in Europe. Most importantly, both the
eastern and western parts of the Continent are facing the problem. Konarski argues that
although the emergence of ethnic nationalism in the countries of the European Union
“does not constitute a direct roadblock to political, legal and economic harmonization,
it nevertheless reveals that dissenting opinions on such issues exist, shared by their
numerous nationals. Such differences arise not only from misgivings about the status
1
The distinction between ethnic and political nationalism has been brought into the political
debate by Hans Kohn, who defined nationalism as “... a state of mind in which an individual’s first
loyalty is toward the nation-state.” Wawrzyniec Konarski combines the concept of Carleton Hayes,
who views nationalism as “a combination of patriotism and national awareness” with the concept of
H. Kohn. He argues that the combination of these two approaches allows one to perceive nationalism
as “two mutually antagonistic concepts: that of political nationalism and that of ethnic (or ethnic-
linguistic) nationalism. […] The former, derived from the theory of national sovereignty, links up to
the development of democracy and is labeled ‘western’. Ethnic nationalism, in its turn, referred to as
‘eastern’, is considered to be a product of backwardness, lacking democratic traditions and an infe-
riority complex […]. Hence, nationalism in Central and Eastern Europe was portrayed as a narrow,
ethnically exclusive and pejorative concept, while the western brand was seen as ethnically open and
semantically neutral, i.e. ethnically inclusive” (Konarski, 2012, pp. 72–73).
4. 358 Cezary Trosiak RIE 11 ’17
of the nation-state in the so-called united Europe. The question is how Europe’s uni-
fication will affect the cultural identity of communities that consider themselves to be
national minorities or nations that are aware of their distinct nature. […] These smaller
nations and/or minorities try to exploit the apparent weakening of nation-states, to
achieve their political objectives” (Konarski, 2012, p. 87). Initially, regionalism driven
by “political nationalism” could be seen as a consequence of European integration, the
pillars of which were the democratic processes used to resolve all disputes, including
the self-determination-related rights of ethnic, national and linguistic groups. Due to
the extent and severity of issues arising in connection with the functioning of these mi-
norities, the accession to the EU by Central and Eastern European countries changed
the treatment of regionalisms, and especially those of ethnic origin. Konarski states
that although it is not possible to be entirely clear on where future regional movements
are headed, they will need to answer the following three questions: “a. should they be
satisfied with further concessions from the present national states (that nevertheless
fall short of full sovereignty); b. should they demand that ‘their’ regions be annexed
to kin states; or c. should they seek to create entirely new nation-states. The pursuit of
the latter option would provide a new impetus for the idea of the nation-state, albeit at
the expense of complicating if not entirely stopping the unification of Europe” (ibid.).
The first fifteen years of the functioning of the sovereign states of the former Eastern
Bloc saw the rise in aspirations to add legitimacy to their identity by applying ethnic
criteria. It is therefore doubtful whether the new nation-states created on the back of
regionalism would support projects designed in essence to weaken the sovereignty of
nation-states. The resulting prospects for the perception of the future of this project by
the EU member states are fairly bleak. Konarski notes this in his conclusions on the
impact of regionalist movements on the future of European integration: “[…] region-
alist movements may pose a predictable threat not only to those states [in which they
occur – note by C.T.] but also to the very idea of a united Europe. The danger in the
former case is somewhat closer than it is in the latter. One should additionally bear in
mind that the face of such movements is primarily ethnic, as opposed to political or
civic” (ibid., p. 88). One opportunity for regionalist movements to achieve the aspira-
tions in a relatively stable way is to act while the political and economic foundations
of both the member states and the European Union remain stable. It seems that the
chances of having a conflict-free process are very slim at present.
To summarize the discussion on European regionalism, one should note that the
process of regionalization has been incorporated into European integration and the
axiological system of the Council of Europe, which is one of the key institutions aim-
ing to “achieve a greater unity among its members for the purpose of safeguarding
and realising the ideals and principles which are their common heritage and facilitat-
ing their economic and social progress” (Article 1 of the Statute of the Council of
Europe). Although the Council is not an institution of the European Union, it is a key
factor for the integration of European countries around a value system that nearly all
countries on the Continent consider important. Just how important this institution re-
ally is has been demonstrated by the fact that almost all (47) countries of Europe other
than Belarus, Kosovo and the Vatican, are its members. While the Council respects the
sovereign right of the member states to determine their own political and economic
5. RIE 11 ’17 The role of ethno-regional parties in European integration... 359
systems, it does require that its members uphold the basic principles of democracy,
which include the freedom to express one’s identity. One of the ways of ensuring such
freedom is to provide for territorial autonomy, which logically becomes “an instrument
for the protection of the rights of such communities that promotes the preservation of
identity, and the fulfillment of cultural and social aspirations. […] Autonomy is not
[…] a prerequisite for membership or a necessary constitutional form enforced in the
institutional system of the CE. However, the Council requires that any identifiable
community with such aspirations enjoy, within its region, the protection of its rights
and guarantees of identity in accordance with the European Charter for Regional Self-
Government” (Jaskiernia, p. 58). To some extent, territorial autonomy is the highest
form of acceptance by a “nationalizing state”2
(Brubaker, 1998) of the aspirations of
some of its citizens to express their distinctiveness. Regionalist movements in Europe
frequently invoke this approach, quoting it as often as they come into conflict with the
nation-state. To structure the discussion on regions in terms of values in the axiological
system of the Council of Europe, basing it on the work of Jerzy Jaskiernia, one should
point out that in this system, regionalism:
results from the recognition that European societies are diverse, as in addition to––
geographical administrative regions, almost every European country has other divi-
sions that run along historical, cultural, national, ethnic and linguistic lines;
is an instrument used to reduce economic disparities among regions within coun-––
tries of Europe;
is a way to present regions as being subject to the European policy of subsidiarity by––
bringing the power to make decisions on the allocation of aid closer to the citizen;
is an instrument used to articulate and consequently preserve the cultural identities––
of regional groups (ethnic, national, and linguistic minorities);
is a way to keep in check the separatist tendencies that jeopardize the territorial––
integrity of the countries in which such aspirations are expressed;
is a way to minimize the negative effects of globalization, especially in economic––
and cultural terms;
is a factor for strengthening Europe’s identity, regardless of which vision of the fu-––
ture of Europe prevails, whether it is the French concept of “Europe of homelands”
or the German proposal to create federalist states – regionalization shifts the focus
towards regions (Jaskiernia, pp. 49–55).
All of the values of today’s European regionalism emanate directly from the Euro-
pean Charter of Local Self-Government, which in addition to the World-Wide Declara-
tion of Local Self-Government, governs the status of local governments internation-
ally. The preamble to that Charter emphasizes the importance of self-government for
the construction of Europe. It points to democracy and the decentralization of power
as the two guiding principles that underpin European integration. According to this
document, “local legislative bodies: councils and assemblies should be appointed in
2
In his description of the transformation Central and Eastern European states witnessed after 1989,
Brubaker employs such terms as “external homeland,” “nationalizing state” and “national minority.”
He refers to them in his study Nationalism Reframed. Nationhood and the national question in the New
Europe, where Brubaker discusses the national and ethnic issues in the post-communist countries and
in particular addresses the rebirth of nationalism after 1989 and its outcomes for Europe.
6. 360 Cezary Trosiak RIE 11 ’17
universal, direct, equal, proportional and anonymous (secret ballot) elections. […] The
Charter views society as the central self-governing unit. The institutions themselves
are of lesser importance – they are mere tools in the hands of local communities used
to pursue common interests” (Marzęcka, 2012).
Regional parties as a concept in political science
As mentioned earlier, the late 20th
and early 21st
centuries have observed socie-
ties rallying around ethnic and national identities and influencing the formation of
new states. Such rallying is evident in the transformations of party systems that, in
their essence, lead to the emergence of new political parties that represent the political
interests of various ethnic or national minorities. The most common expectation in
this process is that such minorities will receive greater rights and that the region they
inhabit will be given greater independence, if not complete autonomy (Sobolewska-
Myślik, 2012).
The most spectacular examples of the aspirations described by sociologists and
political scientists in the context of regionalism are various social and political move-
ments aiming to increase the autonomy of the region in which they operate, as well
as movements seeking to preserve cultural differences by strengthening a sense of
cultural identity in the inhabitants of individual regions. The purest form of maintain-
ing such identity is to nourish the local language, which, after all, constitutes the most
“tangible” example of cultural distinctiveness that a given community has at its dis-
posal relative to the groups that surround it. Other regionalist activities are to nurture
historical memories, and especially those of traumatic events, the goal being to bring
a region’s population together by highlighting the events that remind them how they
have been wronged.
In institutional terms, such efforts lead to the formation and operation of various
organizations, cultural societies, educational associations, sports clubs, choirs, museums
and, finally, regional political parties. The reason the latter were the last to appear was
that they were usually the ones that fueled the aspirations relative to the dominant group
or the central government of the state to which the region in question belongs. The emer-
gence of regional political parties becomes possible only after the degree of democrati-
zation of the relevant states allows it. It is therefore understandable why no such parties
operated in Central and Eastern Europe prior to 1989. Neither did they appear immedi-
ately after the fall of the Berlin Wall, as the majority of the former Eastern Bloc countries
were becoming increasingly nationalist. The societies of these countries used nationalist
sentiments to vent the almost half a century’s worth of pent-up frustrations that resulted
from having the so-called “moral and political unity” imposed on them.3
This does not
3
The term “moral and political unity” emerged as a social and political aim during the Stalin era.
At the time, it was understood as the need to integrate society around an action, goal or idea. It was
seen as the potential state to be pursued by mobilizing society and identifying those who stand in the
way of its achievement, dismissed as “churls,” “parasites” or “layabouts.” In Poland, quite uniquely
for a communist bloc country, the declared aim was to mobilize the nation (sic!) to fight against
“enemies of socialism,” who stood for reactionary forces. Communists viewed any social dispute or
7. RIE 11 ’17 The role of ethno-regional parties in European integration... 361
mean that these countries had no historical traditions to which regionalists could appeal.
Regionalists took advantage of this opportunity as soon as the European Union enlarged
to the East, forcing the respective countries to abide by EU laws.
It is commonly believed that Europe is home to more than a hundred regions whose
aspiration to express their collective interests internationally is being suppressed (see
Map 1). To illustrate this for the sake of a public debate, European regionalists employ
the term “Europe of a hundred flags” (Geremek, 2003). The parties which, in their
charters, speak of the need to represent these regions, are labeled as regional. In fact,
national parties too present themselves in their electoral programs as determined to
protect the interests of regional groups. However, they tend to forget their pledges as
soon as they are elected, as activists from regions where identity aspirations run deep
tend to concede to reluctant party members from other regions, who view such aspira-
tions as a social, political and economic integrity risk for the entire state. That is pre-
cisely why Polish political research on regions focuses on local authorities. Although
many political scientists who study party systems refer to regions in their research,
they usually do so for methodological conformity rather than in the conviction that re-
gional parties are indeed playing an ever more important role in competing for votes.
Map 1. The Europe of regions: languages, cultures, citizens – diversity
Source: Oberschlesien emanzipiert sich – mit oder ohne die Deutschen, IkAS e. V. und Verlag Inspiration
Un Limited, London–Berlin, 2015, p. 122.
In her monograph (Myśliwiec, 2014, pp. 19–24) on the status of regional parties
in Spain’s contemporary political system, Małgorzata Myśliwiec lists several reasons
conflict as an aberration, a result of a conspiracy against the ideal of building a “world-wide interna-
tionalist society of equality and social justice.”
8. 362 Cezary Trosiak RIE 11 ’17
why such parties should be examined. Firstly, they play a key role in the process that
Benedict Anderson called the construction of “imagined communities” (Anderson,
1997). Secondly, the significance of such parties has been rising steadily. They have
established a presence in nearly every European country. Thirdly, although such par-
ties emerged in Europe in the late 1970s and the early 1980s, they play an increasingly
important role in countries of Central and Eastern Europe, especially post 2004. Ex-
amples include Bulgaria’s Movement for Rights and Freedoms, Slovakia’s Party of the
Hungarian Coalition, and Poland’s Silesian Autonomy Movement. Political scientists
describe this phenomenon as the rise of “peripheral nationalisms” (Myśliwiec, 2006).
Fourthly, the debate on the rise of regional parties, and in particular, that of a more rad-
ical form of ethno-regional parties, should shed light on the consequences of “defreez-
ing” party systems in Central and Eastern Europe. Regionalization has contributed to
an overhaul of party systems in that region based on a whole new value system. As
a result, next to vertical (hierarchical) system, a growing role is played by horizontal
(equality-based) systems (Lijphard, 1977). Fifthly, the emergence of regional parties
has forced researchers to redefine the existing criteria for classifying political parties.
The need arose to account not only for ideological criteria, but also for collective inter-
ests, which their founders commit to protect and enshrine in their charters. One other
consequence of the rise of regional movements is the newly-emerged split into central
and peripheral parties. As a consequence, many researchers have expanded the classi-
cal classification of political parties by adding the new category of regional and ethnic
organizations (Beyme, 1982).
In summing up her reflections on the need to study ethno-regional parties, Myśliwiec
notes that although many researchers are reluctant to view regional and ethnic parties
as a separate theoretical category, the criterion is nevertheless vital for contemporary
political science and, as such, should be recognized in examining Europe’s party sys-
tems. Polish political scientists (Herbut, 2002; Antoszewski, 2009) have expressed
reluctance to distinguish ethno-regional parties, which sets them apart from Western
European researchers, and especially those who study the British, Italian and, in par-
ticular, the Spanish party system.
To structure this article properly,4
it is crucial to examine the very essence of re-
gional parties. The British political scientist Derek W. Urwin researched regional par-
ties in the early 1980s. Urwin noted that ever since they first emerged, regional parties
were known to pursue a wide range of aims. While their dominant objectives have
always been social and economic, there were others that appear to be highly “danger-
ous” for both the entities they targeted, i.e. “nationalizing states,” as well as the players
(i.e. parties seeking the fulfillment of such political goals as autonomy and secession).
What makes the parties targeting nationalizing states dangerous is that they put terri-
torial integrity and national identity at considerable risk. The risk faced by autonomy
seekers lies in the reactions they evoke from the institutions of the states in which they
operate. The key characteristic of ethno-regional parties is “the nature of their claims
vis-a-vis the state and their approach to voters. The claims aspect concerns the fact that
4
An analysis of regional and ethno-regional parties has been featured in an article prepared for
publication by the author. Its title is European Free Alliance (EFA) as the representative of “unrep-
resented aspirations.”
9. RIE 11 ’17 The role of ethno-regional parties in European integration... 363
regional parties tend to represent the interests of groups whose identity distinguishes
them from the overall population of their country. It is also significant that such groups
inhabit particular territories. Precisely this specificity, which Urwin refers to as territo-
rial identity, constitutes a common feature of all regional parties. On the other hand,
the approach to the voter aspect concerns the fact that regional parties concentrate their
electoral activities in their region, which is where they nominate their candidates and
where their candidates find their primary support base” (Sobolewska-Myślik, 2012,
p. 21). Urwin’s proposal comes amidst scores of others formulated in European politi-
cal science.5
A common feature shared by all such proposals is the fact that regional
parties emphasize that their political objectives are achieved mainly by operating in
their home constituencies, whose cultural, economic and political interests they set out
to protect.
Ethno-regional parties are a special case of regional parties. The key difference
between regional and ethno-regional parties is that the latter focus their activities on
identity issues, which in part defines them as anti-globalization groupings. Such status
is derived from the fact that their followers, who emphasize territorial particularism,
oppose unification in any form, regardless of whether it concerns the nation-state of
which a given region is a part or unification in a global sense. Research on ethno-
regional issues is done chiefly by H. Türsan and L. De Winter (2007). Their concepts
rest on the assumption that modern research into political mobilization increasingly
relies on “new” actors focusing on issues related to ethnic identity. By and large, the
authors bring ethnic identity into the ongoing debate on the criteria applying to the
classification of political parties. The reason their renewed interest in ethnic identity is
referred to as a renaissance is that the issue has been Europe’s experience – with more
or less intensity – ever since the mid-19th
century, fueling isolationist tendencies at the
expense of openness to resolving the internal and external problems of nation-states
by joining supranational structures. It is appropriate at this stage of the discussion to
cite the definition of the ethno-regional party. The definitions proposed by De Winter
and Türsan are discussed by Katarzyna Sobolewska-Myślik, who suggests that the
regional party be seen as “any group whose functioning is based on a collective aware-
ness of being ethnically distinctive and on such a party identifying itself with a clearly
defined territory” (ibid., pp. 22–23).
De Winter and Türsan distinguished several types of ethno-regional parties. The
basis for the distinction used in this classification was the nature of the demands for-
mulated by such parties’ leaders. One such type is the protectionist party. The parties
have a unique nature, which they expect their home state to protect. Another type,
the autonomous party, expects the nation-state to meet its expectation of achieving
regional autonomy. Yet another type, identified by De Winter and Türsan, is the na-
tionalist-federalist party, which wants its home states to become a federation. One
other party type described by the authors of this typology is the independence party. Its
5
Other examples include the contemporary book The Origins and Strengths of Regional Parties
by Down Brancati, “British Journal of Political Science” 2008, vol. 38, Issue 1; Regionalist Parties in
Western Europe, ed. L. De Winter, H. Türsan, Routledge, London–New York, 2007; E. Roller, P. van
Houten, National Parties and Regional Systems in Europe, paper delivered at the 2002 Annual Meet-
ing of the American Political Science Association, Boston, Aug. 29–Sept. 1, 2002.
10. 364 Cezary Trosiak RIE 11 ’17
members expect state authorities and the international community to recognize their
rights to pursue independent politics, which boils down to having the right to separate
from an existing state. Finally, the classification of ethno-regional parties features the
irredentist party, which seek to have their home region break away from its state and
join another region with similar characteristics (e.g. one inhabited by people which the
irredentists consider to be part of the community they make up), and located within
the boundaries of a state adjacent to that of their own region (De Winter, Türsan, 2007,
pp. 205, 207).
In her discussion on the functioning of party systems at the regional level, Ka-
tarzyna Sobolewska-Myślik notes that “the emergence at the regional level of a unique
partisan rivalry that differs from the rivalry observed at the national level may suggest
the existence of two distinct party systems within the political system of a given state”
(Sobolewska-Myślik, 2012, p. 32). This may be the case in countries with strong tradi-
tions of regions asserting their independence by either seeking territorial autonomy or
pursuing secessionist aspirations. For the purposes of examining a situation in which,
in addition to rivalry at the national level, there is also regional competition, the ideas
of Luciano Bardi and Peter Maira appear to be useful. In their analyses, the two schol-
ars argue that contemporary party systems should be treated as “multidimensional phe-
nomena” differentiated by several criteria (Bardi, Mair, 2008, pp. 147–166). Both re-
searchers agree that the central criterion is that of the division of political parties below
the central and specifically at the regional level. At this level, which they refer to as
horizontal, political parties compete with each other solely at the regional level, while
the party system is comprised of a “set” of parties rather than of their system. Parties
coexist but do not engage in significant interactions (conflicts). It is also possible at this
level to examine how precisely the party-to-party interactions come about at the re-
gional level. The political system can only be decentralized if the following conditions
are met: (a) the nature of the elections; for a regional system to actually exist, choices
at this level should be different than those at the national level; (b) the competing play-
ers; Bardi and Mair point out that the parties that compete may be different (central
and regional) or the same, as long as their political significance and their strength dif-
fers at both levels; (c) the electoral strategies employed; the strategies should differ at
the central and regional levels due to socio-political divisions that occur at these levels
and are important to voters (Sobolewska-Myślik, 2012, pp. 36–41).
Concluding remarks
As a research interest for Polish political scientists, regional parties are largely
a terra incognita. There are at least two reasons for this, one being that there are no
parties of this type, i.e. regional parties and specifically their particular form of ethno-
regional parties, for researchers to study. Secondly, it is difficult to imagine a political
program aimed at achieving regional autonomy to emerge in the foreseeable future
that could drum up significant support. This does not mean, however, that Poland has
no potential or reasons for the emergence of such parties and demands. The regions
with all the right makings to create them include Kashubia (Kaszuby) and Upper Si-
11. RIE 11 ’17 The role of ethno-regional parties in European integration... 365
lesia (Górny Śląsk). The expectations have already become institutional in the form of
Kashëbskô Jednota / the Association of People of Kashubian Nationality, the Silesian
Autonomy Movement and organizations associating the German minority. Thus far,
the success of these organizations on the regional political scene has been limited, as
the majority of Kashubian and Upper Silesian regionalists have been active in national
parties, using their “regional agendas” instrumentally.
In view of the above findings, the ideas of Bardi and Mair appear to be particularly
useful for analyzing such circumstances as those observed in Upper Silesia. This is
especially true considering recent announcements to establish a strictly regional politi-
cal party in the region. The concepts are an outcome of studies of the party systems in
which regional rivalries have had strong traditions (Scotland, Catalonia). It seems that
the concept can be readily employed to research the emergence of the regional political
scene in Central and Eastern Europe. This applies also to Poland. By all indications,
given the potential identified in the country’s 2011 National Population and Housing
Census, Upper Silesia regionalists have a substantial potential to tap. Considering the
resistance of the “nationalizing state” which emerged in Poland after the 2015 elec-
tions, the regionalists will be compelled to make another bid to consolidate their elec-
torates. Their first unsuccessful attempt came during the last parliamentary elections
in the fall of 2015. The success of any of their future consolidation activities in Upper
Silesia will hinge on the response to the consolidation drive from the German com-
munity, which constitutes Poland’s most powerful ethnic minority in organizational
and financial terms. Thus far, the aspirations of Upper Silesian regionalists, who want
the Polish state to recognize the Silesians as a nationality and their godka (i.e. the lan-
guage used by native Upper Silesians) as a regional language, have been contested by
German minority leaders, and especially those based in the Opole Region. However,
the fact that the pressures from the nationalizing state have also been experienced by
German minority organizations, may sway Upper Silesian Germans to engage in such
activities.
In reply to the question implied in the title of this article and to the theses formu-
lated in its introduction, one must state that the aspiration to create “stateless nations,”
which the founders of regional parties have written into their electoral programs, may
well be propelled by the opportunities presenting themselves in the new transnational
order designed by Keating. In its essence, the order brings diversity and a division of
sovereignty (between the nation-state and the EU institutions). In addition, the oppor-
tunities offered to regions by European integration are both symbolic (becoming part
of a community based on values shared across Europe and upheld by other members of
the western civilization) as well as practical, described as a set of measures (structural
policy measures) and instruments (EU legislation).
Bibliography
Anderson B. (1997), Wspólnoty wyobrażone. Rozważania o źródłach i rozprzestrzenianiu się nacjo
nalizmu, Kraków–Warszawa.
Antoszewski A. (2009), Partie i systemy partyjne państw Unii Europejskiej na przełomie wieków,
Toruń.
12. 366 Cezary Trosiak RIE 11 ’17
Altermatt U. (1988), Sarajewo przestrzega: Euronacjonalizm w Europie, Kraków.
Bardi L., Mair P. (2008) The Parameters of Party Systems, “Party Politics”, vol. 14, no. 2.
Beyme (von) K. (1984), Parteien in westlichen Demokratien, München–Zürich.
Brubaker R. G. (1998), Nacjonalizm inaczej. Struktura narodowa i kwestie narodowe w nowej
Europie, Warszawa–Kraków.
Jaskiernia J. (2014), Autonomia terytorialna w świetle systemu aksjologicznego Rady Europy, in: Au-
tonomia terytorialna w perspektywie europejskiej, vol. I: Teoria–Historia, eds. M. Domagała,
J. Iwanek, Toruń.
De Winter L., Türsan H. (2007), Regionalist Parties in Western Europe, Routledge, London–New York.
Geremek B. (2003), Europa stu flag, “Wprost”, vol. 1035.
Herbut R. (2002), Teoria i praktyka funkcjonowania partii politycznych, Wrocław.
Marzęcka B. (2012), Europejska Karta Samorządu Lokalnego, http://uniaeuropejska.org/europejska-
karta-samorzadu-lokalnego/, August 1, 2017.
Iwanek J. (2014), Pojęcie autonomii terytorialnej we współczesnej europejskiej przestrzeni demokra-
tycznej, in: Autonomia terytorialna w perspektywie europejskiej, vol. I: Teoria–Historia, eds.
M. Domagała, J. Iwanek, Toruń.
Konarski W. (2014), Autonomia czy secesja? Ruchy regionalistyczne jako forma nacjonalizmu we
współczesnej Europie i ich możliwy wpływ na ideę zjednoczonej Europy, in: Autonomia tery-
torialna w perspektywie europejskiej, vol. I: Teoria–Historia, eds. M. Domagała, J. Iwanek,
Toruń.
Keating M. (1998), The New Regionalism in Western Union: Territorial Restructuring and Political
Change, London.
Lijphard A. (1977), Democracy in Plural Societies: A Comparative Exploration, New Haven.
Myśliwiec M. (2006), Katalonia na drodze do niepodległości?, Bytom.
Myśliwiec M. (2014), Pozycja partii regionalnych w systemie politycznym współczesnej Hiszpanii,
Katowice.
Sobolewska-Myślik K. (2012), Partie i systemy partyjne na poziomie regionu. Przykład Szkocji
i Katalonii, Kraków.
Statute of the Council of Europe, adopted at London, May 5, 1949, Official Journal 1994, No. 118,
Item 565.
Summary
In the article, the author seeks to find what role regional parties should and can perform in
the process of European integration. The significance of this question stems from the fact that
regional parties tend to face reluctance from the political authorities and societies of “national-
izing states.” In the introduction, the author shows how approach to regionalism changed in
Europe in the mid-1980s, most prominently in the concept of “new regionalism.” He continues
to describe the ongoing debate on what regional parties and their particular form, ethno-regional
parties, are and the roles they perform in the political systems of contemporary European states.
An example is also provided of the political rivalry in the region and the general principles gov-
erning competition at the region level. The author believes that the insights into the functioning
of regional party systems can be useful in analyzing socio-political processes, especially in
Upper Silesia.
Key words: regionalism, new regionalism, territorial autonomy, regional parties, ethno-region-
al parties
13. RIE 11 ’17 The role of ethno-regional parties in European integration... 367
Miejsce partii etnoregionalnych w procesie integracji europejskiej.
Dystraktor czy katalizator
Streszczenie
W artykule autor stara się ustalić, jaką rolę powinny i mogą odgrywać partie regionalne
procesie integracji europejskiej. Znaczenie tego pytania wynika z faktu, że partie regionalne
spotykają się z niechęcią ze strony władz politycznych i społeczeństw „państw narodowych”
We wstępie autor pokazuje, w jaki sposób zmieniło się podejście do regionalizmu w Europie
w połowie lat 80. XX w. Najbardziej widoczne jest ono w koncepcji „nowego regionalizmu”.
Kontynuując swoje rozważania autor opisuje toczącą się debatę na temat tego jaką rolę od-
grywają partie regionalne, a zwłaszcza ich szczególna forma jaką są partie etnoregionalne w
systemach politycznych współczesnych państw europejskich.
Podano również przykład rywalizacji politycznej w regionie i ogólnych zasad rządzących
konkurencją na poziomie regionu. Autor wierzy, że analiza funkcjonowania regionalnych sys-
temów partyjnych może być przydatna w analizowaniu procesów społeczno-politycznych,
zwłaszcza na Górnym Śląsku.
Słowa kluczowe: regionalizm, nowy regionalizm, autonomia terytorialna, partie regionalne,
partie etnoregionalne.
Article submitted: 8.07.2017; accepted: 10.10.2017.