Bulgarian Entrepreneurs and the Political Situation in the Balkans in the 1850s–1870s

The current research question sought to examine political psychology as it relates to evolutionary mismatch. The basic hypothesis is that people will be more cognitively prepared to think about political situations that are relatively small in scale compared with political situations that are large in scale. This research also examined the effects of whether the political situation is highly relevant to oneself. To test these questions, 49 young adults were presented with four sets of instructions. They were asked to write paragraphs describing (i) a large‐scale, self‐relevant political situation, (ii) a large‐scale non‐self‐relevant political situation, (iii) a small‐scale self‐relevant political situation, and (iv) a small‐scale non‐self‐relevant political situation. Paragraphs generated by the participants were analyzed using Tyler's () Writing Sample Readability Analyzer. Results demonstrated that paragraphs designed for large‐scale political situations had more sentences and were less readable than paragraphs designed for small‐scale situations—while paragraphs designed for small‐scale political situations were relatively readable and included more words per sentence, suggesting that, consistent with the core hypothesis, participants had an easier time processing information related to small‐scale political situations than large‐scale political situations. Implications for the nature of modern politics are discussed.

Objective: to determine the impact of socio-demographic factors and characteristics of political and economic changes on corruption.Methods: the work uses the methods of comparative analysis, construction of conjugation tables, and the index method; the information base is the public opinion monitoring data in Vologda oblast, with 1,500 respondents filling in questionnaires at their place of residence. The sample is random and quota; representativeness is ensured by the proportions observed between the residents of settlements of different types, gender and age structure of the population; sampling error does not exceed 3 %.Results: manifestations of corruption have been the subject matter of scientific discourse for quite a long time, but the research approaches have been constantly expanding from the historical, legal, and economic points of view. The article considers corruption as a multidimensional phenomenon and analyzes it from the perspective of an integrative approach, which implies taking into account territorial aspects, socio-demographic factors, and the citizens’ perception of the political and economic situation in the country and in the region. The analysis of the assessment results of the public opinion about the corruption level in the region showed that the authorities and the health care system are the most susceptible to corruption. The assessment of the territorial prevalence of corruption showed that the corruption index values along the “center – periphery” line are higher in the regional center than in the districts. It was also revealed that differences in the socio-demographic characteristics insignificantly influence the perception of changes in the corruption level, unlike the perception of corruption depending on the economic and political situation in the region.Scientific novelty: Based on the analysis of the results of the corruption level monitoring in the region, it is shown that positive assessments of the political and economic situation are associated with an unchanged or decreased level of corruption perception. Hence, good and very good assessments of the economic situation were more often associated with a decrease in the corruption level last year.Practical significance: the identified links between corruption, socio-demographic, political and economic factors can serve as a basis for adjusting and improving anti-corruption policy at the regional and state level.

Systems analysis is a generally accepted methodology used to study complex social and economic as well as technical systems. Based on essential provisions and methods of systems analysis it has been discovered that composition of elements of social and political situation has to include information on studied sphere or process of the state or region. Not only passive reflection of information on events or identification of a certain process, but also trends of situation development and real capabilities of political powers and institutions as well as orientations and capabilities of governing elite are among essential elements of the social and political situation. Thus, to have a systemic assessment of social and political situation in certain state or region there should be analysed its following elements: foreign policy; political situation in region or state; political (military and political) leadership; political norms assessment; analysis of political culture of society; economical situation in the state or region; armed forces state (including capacity to run hybrid wars); social and psychological environment in the society; ethno-confessional situation in the region or state; demographic situation in the region or state; geographic location; ecological situation in the region or state; criminal situation in the region or state. Thus, the need to take into account all above elements of a certain situation of social and political processes leads to understanding the need for analysis, assessment and forecasting of all factors, conditions, events, processes and phenomena that took place, are taking place or will take place in the studied region.Today the need to forecast the future is determined by both objective realities of the general civilizational development and problems of specific perspective regulation of economic, political, spiritual and military relations. Forecasting has complex interdisciplinary nature formed on the crossroad of political science, sociology, philosophy, psychology, history, economical theory etc. Analysis of contemporary scientific literature devoted to forecasting proves that it is the process shedding light on a certain aspect creating methodological preconditions for further specification of actions.Thus, the forecasting in the system of social and political process is a probabilistic, stochastic and scientifically justified opinion on perspectives of a certain processes or phenomenon in future and alternative ways and terms of its realization on the basis of objectivity, proportionality as well as alternative, systemic and scientific approaches.Social and political process always has dynamic nature so it can never be static. To identify the level of social and political situation a comprehensive and deep study of features and patterns of essential elements of social and political situation is required. There are not only actions of social and political process agents but also social and political interests and goals as well as real social and political events, processes and phenomena among structural elements of social and political situation. Their impact on social and political situation will define its level: normal, critical, emergent.Study and generalization of theoretical approached leads to a conclusion that main goal of social and political situation assessment is the reflection of situation and identification of factors, conditions, events, phenomena that require constant analysis for further impact on social and political processes. It requires realization of the essence of social and political situation assessment as well as its elements that need identification. There should also be defined the sequence of analysis of factors that create social and political situation.Thus, the comprehensive analysis and assessment of social and political situation provides for identification of factors of development and mutual relation of the agents of social and political process, which have direct or indirect impact on social and political process in the state or separate regions. This is exactly what enables the state administration take actions for stabilization or destabilization of situation both in the international arena or locally.

Ergebnisse paläopathologischer Untersuchungen zu meningealen Reaktionen an Kinderskeleten präkolumbischer Populationen aus dem südöstlichen Nordamerika (USA), dem zentralmexikanischen Hochland und dem östlichen Tiefland Yucatáns (Mexiko)

Secret Cables of the Comintern, 1933–1943

The Southern African Development Community Free Trade Area (SADC FTA) came into effect in January 2008 with at least 85 percent of intra-SADC trade free. Full liberalisation by all countries is expected to be completed by 2012. In analysing Zimbabwe’s trade with the SADC region, results show that irrespective of product category, Zimbabwe’s exports are currently dominated by land-intensive and labour-intensive goods while its imports are mainly composed of capital-intensive and skilled labour-intensive goods. This is consistent with the Heckscher-Ohlin theory since Zimbabwe is relatively more abundant in land and unskilled labour than it is in capital. If the economic and political situation in Zimbabwe returns to normal; the country could develop its industries further to overcome supply sided constraints and experience dynamic comparative advantages. Trade creation which results from the SADC FTA would enable the country to strengthen its current specialisation and increase both its land-intensive and labour-intensive exports. Furthermore, Zimbabwe’s exports of skill-intensive and capital-intensive goods to SADC countries that have less capital and skilled labour than Zimbabwe would rise, thus contributing to diversifying Zimbabwe’s exports. Zimbabwe’s ability to utilise provisions for industrial development in the SADC Protocol on Trade is currently constrained by the unstable political and economic situation which creates a less investor friendly environment; exodus of skilled labour and expertise; and the severe strain the manufacturing sector has been experiencing.

As in many other countries, foundation of daily press is tightly conected to politics and political situation in Serbia. Even tough first magazines and newspapers began to emerge a few decades earlyer, their release was periodical or irregular, where a newspaper itself was a political organ or had narrow spectrum of themes. It is only with the appearance of “Male novine“ that one can talk about the beggining of modern daily press. The content is devided in columns and following Pera Todorovic’s idea, the newspaper were intended for a large audience. As this newspaper, considered the first of it’s kind, had several different columns as newspaper today also have, this paper has it’s focus on column “domace vesti“. Analyzing this column from several aspects, the beggining and the development of modern journalism is followed, as well as the influence that Pera Todorovic himself had od that matter. Also, this paper focuses it’s attention to the implicit impacts that had an important role in the forming of the first daily newspaper in our country. Key words: Male novine, Pera Todorovic, internal affairs news, daily newspapers, journalism, Serbia

Motivation: There is growing awareness that a new model of capitalism is emerging. The 2008–2009 Global Financial Crisis was a catalyst for redefining the role of the state in the economy, and as a result state involvement in the economy has been on the rise since then. We can also observe changes in political situation: democracy has been backsliding globally, authoritarian, and populist tendencies are growing. In some countries, those two tendencies are present, and as a result the illiberal model of state capitalism emerged. In recent years, in Poland, state involvement in the economy was growing and authoritarian tendencies were visible. In this context, it is worth asking if there is an illiberal model of state capitalism in Poland?Aim: The aim of the presented paper is to evaluate the political and economic situation in Poland and to check whether there are changes that could be interpreted as building illiberal state capitalism.Results: The results indicate that in Poland many illiberal statist tendencies could be identified.

IntroductionDeveloping higher military education (HME) is embedded in the overall development of modern armed forces. This development normally reflects adaptation to changes in the external strategic environment, changes in military technology and doctrine, and changes in the societal environment of the armed forces.While this is true for armed forces with an unbroken tradition, the pattern differs when a given military's development had been interrupted by historical events. This article will focus on the situation in Bosnia-Herzegovina (BiH), which constitutes a unique case in itself. The particular political situation in Bosnia-Herzegovina after the break-up of Yugoslavia, the ensuing war of 1992-95 and the Framework Agreement on (Dayton Agreement) of December 1995 had led to a rather de-centralized state structure, with two largely autonomous political Entities that each kept the armed forces they had established during the war, leading to the de facto military division of BiH. Thus, when the West initiated a defense reform process in BiH in 2002, it aimed first at establishing state-level control over these armed forces (2003), and then at merging them into one single military force for the nation (2005), with other issues mostly put on the back burner.1This was also the case with regard to military education. While a coherent system for the training and education of the now joint state-level armed forces of BiH would have been a key element for completing defense reform, it has not yet been established. There have been serious attempts, but up to this point they have failed. Thus, this article will:\* Briefly outline the political and military situation in BiH, including the lack of a coherent system of military education* Present early initiatives within the context of defense reform as well as parallel to it* Describe the initiatives undertaken in establishing higher military education as well as the resistance they met* Assess the process with respect to its impact, including the causes of its failure.The Situation in Bosnia-HerzegovinaThe break-up of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY) also meant the break-up of the former Yugoslav People's Army (Jugoslovenska Narodna Armija, or JNA)2 and the establishment of national armed forces by the successor states. While Serbia inherited the mostly intact military system of the JNA (including its high-quality military academy), the seceding states 3 in most cases achieved their statehood through wars of independence,4 with forces mostly derived from the JNA's territorial defense system, but at least in a coherent structure.In Bosnia-Herzegovina, the war following the declaration of independence in April 1992 was both a war of secession from Yugoslavia but also between the three major ethnic groups in BiH (Bosniaks, or Bosnian Muslims; Serbs; and Croats),with ongoing intervention by neighboring Serbia and Croatia.5Fighting between Bosniaks and Croats ended when the United States brokered a between them in 1994. After Western intervention in 1995, the Serbs also accepted a cease-fire, which then led all parties involved to agree on the General Framework Agreement on Peace (the Dayton Agreement, or DPA) in late 1995. The DPA established a rather decentralized state structure,6 with two highly autonomous political entities, the (Muslim-Croat) Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina and the (Serbdominated) Republika Srpska.7 Furthermore, the DPA allowed the two entities to maintain their wartime forces. Thus, for ten years there were two separate armies within one state, implicitly pitched against each other, but also following different models of doctrines and education. Only in 2002 was a reform process initiated that led in stages to the creation of unified armed forces in 2006.The Lack of a Coherent System of Military Education and its Impact on the Military SituationDuring the armed conflict that lasted from 1992 to 1995, the various armies had almost no training and education systems of their own. …

My presentation is part of a project on ‘cinematic ethics’: the idea of film as a medium of ethical experience, one with the power to evoke varieties of ethical experience leading to critical reflection through emotional engagement and aesthetic involvement. Although film can be used for moral pedagogy (or for political propaganda), it also has the power to challenge our moral assumptions, dogmatic beliefs, or ideological convictions. It can problematise social, cultural, and political situations in ways that force viewers to see their world—or multiple worlds—in more psychologically nuanced, socially complex, and ethically confronting ways. It can reveal obscured, forgotten, or ignored elements of a world or the ethical complexities of a social, political, or historical situation. This ethical capacity of cinema is particularly evident in the documentary or non-fiction film, one of the most innovative areas of contemporary global cinema. Recent documentary film theory has highlighted the importance of ethics, subjectivity, reflexivity, fictional narrative, and aesthetic technique in contemporary non-fictional film (Cooper 2005, Renov 2004, Saxton 2008, Winston 2000). All of these elements are featured, but also questioned, in one of the most confronting and original non-fiction films in recent years, Joshua Oppenheimer’s The Act of Killing (2012). An extraordinary fusion of reflexive ‘perpetrator documentary,’ historico-political reckoning, stylised fictional re-enactment, and surreal essay film, The Act of Killing confronts the ongoing social and historical legacy of Indonesia’s state-sanctioned death squads, who killed over a million dissident Communists and ethnic Chinese following the military coup of 1965. Focusing on some of the perpetrators themselves, who are filmed making their own bizarre movie version of their crimes, The Act of Killing ’s provocative exploration of the traumatic intersection of politics, history, cinema, and violence makes it a uniquely challenging and thought-provoking case study in cinematic ethics.

As a result of the Ukrainian authorities' refusal to sign an agreement on joining the EU, at the end of 2013 protests were held in Kiev and a number of cities, led by pro-West opposition. The political situation was radicalized, resulting in the overthrow of the regime of President Yanukovych. These developments triggered protests in the Crimea and in the southeastern regions. After the referendum, Crimea unilaterally separated from Ukraine and joined Russia, while an armed conflict between the central authorities and the armed groups of rebelled pro-Russia population began in parts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Ukraine accused Russia of annexing the Crimea and of Russia's armed formations actively fighting on the side of the pro-Russia separatists. Bilateral relations were minimized, and have continued in that way for the last two years, with the emergence of a large number of problems that have further burdened and accentuated existing differences of views. Additionally, the newly-established status of Crimea has considerably worsened Russia's relations with Western countries and radicalized the security situation at the regional and global levels. The complexity and topicality of the 'Crimean question' is defined, inter alia, by the special geostrategic significance of the Crimean peninsula, as well as the specific geographical, historical and cultural-identity characteristics of the area. With great care not to fall into the trap of geographical and historical determinism, the paper seeks to prove that the physical and geographical and socio-geographical characteristics of Crimea, as well as its specific historical development, are elements that influenced the change of its status (unilateral separation from Ukraine and joining Russia), causing the creation of a complex political and security situation in the Black Sea region, which threatens to disintegrate the entire system of regional stability, with possible implications for global security. The aim of the paper is to point out the importance of the 'Crimean question' that significantly determines the security of the region and the relations of the most influential geopolitical actors, through the insight in the geostrategic position of Crimea. The aim is also to draw attention to the current topic and to communicate it to the general public, namely, to make, in an affirmative way, a theoretical shift towards understanding and critical perception of the 'Crimean issue', mainly from the perspective of the events of the last two years.

This chapter explores the emergence of liberation theology in Latin America in the 1960s and assesses its successes and failures in the next four decades. It emerged from Christian communities, first in Brail and then spread throughout Latin America. This theology is a combination of action and reflection that argues that Christianity should free people rather than oppress them. This action and reflection is based on faith, scripture, tradition, reason and experience. Liberation theology emerged from communities trying to survive in economic, political, ecological, racial and other forms of poverty. I outline the political and economic situations in three Latin American countries where it emerged and coalesced: Brazil, El Salvador and Nicaragua. Brazil is both the richest country but also the one with the largest social gap. It was the locus from where liberation theology emerged and has remained strong. It emerged more slowly in El Salvador and Nicaragua, but played a large role in the political situations. Next, I explore the response of the Roman Catholic Church. By 1990 many in the global North assumed that liberation theology was dead. Socialism and communism were deemed to have failed after the fall of the Berlin Wall as liberationists had often supported socialist economic policies. Furthermore, the Catholic Church condemned liberation theology. However, it is vibrant again in parts of Latin America today. I explore its re-emergence this century. Liberation theology did not die; it moved from its intense focus on the political and economic repression to addressing the wider scope of oppression including issues of race, gender and sexuality among others.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to first, inform readers of the roles, activities and contexts of drug users unions in Denmark and Sweden. Second, to show the achievements and impacts of the two. Third, to illustrate the differing social and political situations in the two countries and how they determine the priorities and activity of the unions. Design/methodology/approach – The paper is written by a UK commentator who bases the text on meetings, interviews and conversations with members and representatives of the two unions. Spokespersons for both unions have contributed to, commented on and clarified draft texts and provided contextual papers and information. Findings – The two unions have differing roles and levels of acceptance and influence according to the political and legal situations in the two countries. There are differing situations and needs in Denmark and Sweden, reflected in the levels of drug-related deaths. There is no “Scandinavian” model. In Denmark the users union is involved in high-level discussions on policy making and practice. In Sweden the new unions are starting to be involved in local discussions about provision and practice. Research limitations/implications – Danish experience shows how political acceptance of the existence of a drug using population is leading to improved health and well-being amongst that population, and to social policy responses which are inclusive of this and other marginalised groups, and to a reduction of stigma and demonisation. Swedish experience differs and can be seen as essentially prohibitionist and punitive. Many Swedish drug users are moving to Denmark because of the levels of service and social attitudes. It may be of interest to UK policy to adopt a similar approach to drug users organisations – as distinct from service users’ voices. Practical implications – Strengthening the role of drug users unions in all countries and including them in national policy making discussion and debate. Social implications – Accepting the existence and needs of drug using groups in society and developing responses informed by their views and experience. Adopting inclusive social policies and recognising the variety of need and choices in treatment. Combatting stigma and demonisation. Originality/value – The paper is based on extensive interviews and conversations whose results and content are recorded, not interpreted. The Danish work was conducted in Danish, adding to the number of voices and conversations it was possible to include. A distinction between policy and practice in Denmark and Sweden is established which may run counter to UK impressions of “Scandinavian” rather than national realities.

The article is devoted to the study of world military and political situation, its peculiarities and trends in development.. The author defines that the re-structuring of the present-day international relations system is a key trend in the political and military development. There is obvious the formation of new axes of relations among great powers, the appearance of new types of risks and ways of their prevention on multilateral basis. Key words: political and military situation, security, international system structure, co-operation.

A significant role in the study of the everyday life of the Kazakh people, traditional life of the Kazakh village, political situation that developed in the Kazakh region at the beginning of the XXth century belongs to the periodicals published in Kazakh language, among which the newspaper “Birlik tuy”.Valuable information about the social political and social-economic situation of the region, the daily life of the population of the Syrdarya and Zhetysu regions of the Turkestan region were reflected on the pages of the newspaper. In addition, the newspaper “Birlik tuy” constantly informed the residents of the region about the most important events that took place in the region and activitiesof local authorities.Despite its short-term publishing activity, the newspaper “Birlik tuy” is one of those periodicals, whose materials widely covered the life and everyday life of the Kazakh people, difficulties and hardships of those years, hopes and dreams that they lived after the February and October revolutions, that, undoubtedly contributed to the growth of their self-consciousness and the expansion of political horizons.