By transitioning to democracy in the 1970s, Spain, Portugal, and Greece aligned themselves with what Samuel P. Huntington described as the “third wave of democratization.” To interpret and explain the historical simultaneity of democratic transitions in Spanish, Portuguese, and Greek societies, this article approaches the issue through a comparative lens. It examines how specific political and other domestic actors – political parties, leaders, movements, as well as external ones, such as the EU and NATO – have influenced democratic politics and contributed to the consolidation of governance systems in Spain, Portugal, and Greece. The article argues that the democratic transitions in Southern Europe were swift and successful. They represented a direct leap, in the 1970s, from the (semi)periphery to the core of the global system (independent states with consolidated democracies). This study considers the existing scholarly output on the memory of democratic transitions and the political dynamics centered on this past in Spanish, Portuguese, and Greek societies. In addition, it provides an original comparative analysis and identifies both shared characteristics and distinct specificities of these processes in the societies and states of Southern Europe.

n the second half of the 16th century, both branches of the Habsburg dynasty faced the Ottoman threat and the need for joint actions and cooperation. Most good examples of inner-dynastic cooperation in the communication with the Sultan are found in the field of diplomacy. The permanent diplomatic representation of the Austrian Habsburgs in Constantinople allowed them to act in favor of their Spanish relatives, who at that time preferred not to be officially represented in the Ottoman capital. Vienna’s diplomats insisted on the inclusion of Spain in the numerous peace agreements between the Emperor and the Sultan and secretly negotiated in the name of Philip II. By presenting chosen case studies the current article accentuates another significant example for cooperation, namely the efforts of the Austrian Habsburg diplomats to liberate Spanish subjects from Ottoman captivity. It focuses on Spanish prisoners of war after the defeat at Djerba in 1560. The story of veteran general Don Alvaro de Sande, well documented in archival sources, represents an excellent example for inner-dynastic cooperation, but it also offers valuable information on Early modern captivity and redemption practices (formal and informal) in the Mediterranean context of the intense Habsburg–Ottoman rivalry during the 1560s and 1570s.

The article deals with the specifics of the development of Bulgarian cumanology. In the course of historiographical analysis of special literature the following features of the development were revealed: the connection of cumanological research with the development of research on the medieval history and culture of Bulgaria; the study of the history of the development of the Kipchak problem in foreign and Bulgarian historical science; attention to the Kuman anthroponymy and the determination of the degree of influence of the Kipchak language on the language of the Bulgarian people; a special tolerant attitude to the nomadic history and culture. Along with this, new studies are appearing on the history of the Mongol conquest of European states and the role of the Cumans in this historical process. These scientific studies make it possible to significantly complete the historical picture of the stay of the Kipchak tribes in the West and to define the phenomenon of the Kipchak factor in the world history.

The relations between the Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organization (IMARO) and the Bulgarian Exarchate were complex and ambiguous throughout the period of their parallel existence. For nearly twenty years the two organizations, one legal and officially recognized by the Sultan’s authorities, the other conspiratorial and revolutionary in its nature, were in close contact with each other, overlapping in personnel to a certain extent and developing their activities mainly among the Bulgarian exarchate population. At the same time, the Exarchate and IMARO had serious and ever-lasting differences on the issue of the ways and means for the liberation of those Bulgarians who still remained under Ottoman rule, which was the exact reason for the periodic rise in tension between them. The contradictions were particularly noticeable in the period after the suppression of the Ilinden-Preobrazhenie Uprising of 1903. However, to one degree or another they continued to exist until the very eve of the Balkan War (1912). The study is based mainly on official diplomatic documents of a secular nature and to a much lesser extent on Exarchate’s sources, and therefore does not claim to reflect fully the Exarchate’s view of its relations with the Revolutionary Organization.

The “Millet System” constituted the basis of the Ottoman societal structure. The “Millet System” allowed different communities, including Ottoman Jews, to exercise their beliefs and cultures however they wanted and without exposure to any oppression. However, the economic and social problems experienced in the 19th century required the establishment of a new social administration system. For this reason, in 1869, the “Citizenship Law” was enacted, and the subjects of the Ottoman State were given the right to modern citizenship. This law, which had a secular nature, gave rise to the concept of “citizenship”, where all subjects were included under the rule of the Ottoman authority without regard to their religion or sect. In this study, the status of Ottoman Jews following the enaction of the Citizenship Law is investigated based on the specific case of those changing their citizenship. The factors that affected the appeal of Jews to relinquish their Ottoman citizenship are examined based on their preferences of countries for citizenship and their short biographies found in relevant documents. This study revealed that the number of Jews who renounced Ottoman citizenship were limited. The archive records used on the subject mostly belong to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Hariciye Nezareti). From time to time, the issue was referred to the Council of State (Şura-yı Devlet), and concerns about the compliance of citizenship related actions with the legislation were resolved.

The establishment of educational institutions in the Autonomous Socialist Province of Kosovo has had a complex trajectory. Immediately after the Second World War, Kosovo received the status of a special district (Oblast) within the framework of the Republic of Serbia. In accordance with this status, primary education in the Albanian language was allowed there. During the 1950s, secondary schools also began to open. The participation of Albanians as the majority community in the province in educational institutions was still very low. The rate of illiteracy among Albanians remained high. Such a situation began to change from the end of the 1960s, after the Plenum of Briones (1966) when the interior minister of Yugoslavia, Aleksander Ranković, was eliminated from the top leadership of the country. This event marked the beginning of a more liberal era in the federal leadership in relation to the Provinces of Kosovo and Vojvodina. From 1967 to 1974 began a period of debates for the amendment of the Constitution of Yugoslavia. The new Constitution of Yugoslavia of 1974, among other things, improved the legal position of the provinces, making them representative and constitutive elements of the federation. The new advanced constitutional position paved the way for very dynamic developments in the field of education and culture, as well as in the field of social and economic development. The aim of this paper is to address and analyze the wave of these changes in the field of education and culture in the Albanian language in Kosovo, which can be said to be a delayed renaissance for the Albanians of Kosovo. The topic is developed according to the official documents of Kosovo and is based on historiography, mainly from Kosovo and Albania. Yugoslav and Western authors who dealt with this topic were also consulted.

The 1950s started with the confrontation between the East and West when Bulgaria’s trade with socialist countries increased rapidly. Bulgarian-Yugoslav economic relations were frozen, along with radical political criticism and confrontation in all social spheres. Since 1953 along with the easing of international relations, Bulgarian-Yugoslav relations began to normalize and economic contacts were reestablished. However, the share in the two countries’ trade was limited, the structure of trade was unstable, and the results of trade agreements were poor. The article’s aim is to explore the problems concerning the economic relations between the two neighboring countries in the context of the Cold war and the gradual changes in East-West confrontation after Stalin’s death.