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AbstractTimor-Leste has been facing the arduous task of building a viable nation-state since the country's 2002 restoration of independence. The dual challenge consists of interdependent efforts at nation-building and state-building. The author discusses both terms with regard to their relevance to public education and economic development. He raises the question of why nation-building and state-building experience rather contrary prioritisations in these functionally close policy fields. In the educational sector, government activities demonstrate Fretilin's orientation towards Portuguese-speaking countries. The introduction of Portuguese as an official language has accentuated existing lingual and generational cleavage lines. Economic policy in Timor-Leste, however, tends to be more pragmatic and less ideological. The article aims to make an innovative contribution to the interrelationship of nation-building and economic development by addressing important issues on the agenda such as the exploitation of oil, agriculture, tourism, the economic dependency on the former oppressor Indonesia, and foreign aid. The author argues that economic growth will eventually shape the future format of the East Timorese nation as either a new self-confident political player or a withdrawn peasant nation.

Reviews and discusses Orest Subtelny, 'Ukraine, a history'; and Paul R. Magosci. 'A history of Ukraine'. (Original abstract - amended)

AbstractChallenging the received view that the Western world is the authentic cradle of associations, with the United States often epitomised as the 'nation of joiners', this article interprets voluntary associations in East Central Europe (ECE) as variations from the Western model. New studies on associational life in ECE suggest that well-established theoretical dichotomies like state-non-state or governmental-civil need to be overcome and argue that voluntary associations always actively interacted with the political context and contributed to shaping it. The article revisits these theses by focusing on the role of volunteer fire departments, which in ECE have existed almost uninterruptedly since the mid-19th century. It focuses on the period of double transition in Slovenia around 1990—to a democratic system and to an independent Slovenian state—and argues that the volunteer firefighters were able to negotiate the inevitable changes also because they were recognised as associations of Slovene national substance.

For a long time, the political development of Montenegro has been determined by the peculiarities of historical development and the legacy of the former Yugoslavia. The divisions between groups of citizens identifying themselves as Serbs or Montenegrins, as well as contradictions between the state and the church, have determined the configuration of political forces. The fear of national minorities of Serbian national policy and the skillful maneuvering of M. Djukanovic contributed to their support for his regime. However, the problems of economic development, Djukanovic's miscalculations regarding the Orthodox Church, as well as the lack of serious progress on the way to the EU, led to an increase in opposition sentiment and the defeat of Djukanovic in 2023 presidential elections, and the DPS in the parliamentary ones. Representatives of the younger generation of politicians came to power in Montenegro, relying to a lesser extent on traditional ethno-confessional divisions for Montenegro and aimed at solving economic problems and accelerating the process of the country's accession to the EU. The article concludes that the end of a long period of dominance of one political force does not mean the end of the process of democratization. The unresolved issues of national and state building, the influence of external centers, the lack of effective institutions for the achievement of compromise and the protection of the interests of minorities make political life unstable and complicate the adoption of effective political decisions. Despite the victory of a new generation of politicians in the last national elections, the country's traditional divisions still determine the choice of many voters and may again become relevant under the influence of market circumstances.

Rasanya adalah antropolog Clifford Gccrtz (1963) yang pertama kali menyimpulkan bahwa esensi masalah yang dihadapi oleh para nation- and state-build-ers pasca Perang Dunia Kcdua adalah bagaimana merangkai old societies menjadi suatu new state.Old societies menunjuk pada demikian banyak komunitas antropologis tradisional yang mempunyai sejarah dan kebudayaan yang amat tua, sedangkan new state merujuk pada struktur negara modern, yang tumbuh secara berangsur-angsur dalam abad ke-17 dan 18 di Eropa Barat dan Amerika (ANDERSON, 1989, BENDIX, 1969; RENAN, 1994; TILLY, 1973). Oleh karena itu, nation- and state-building selain pada dasarnya merupakan suatu rekayasa struktur politik, juga akan memerlukan adaptasi kultural terencana, baik di kalangan elite pendiri negara maupun di kalangan massa yang hidup di "akar rumput".