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Language is one of the most important elements of cultural identity, but also an expression of economic & political structures & relations. This article is mostly dealing with the role of languages in political processes on three levels: national, regional & international. Presently, all of them are changing together with the structure of contemporary international politics. However, the process of economic globalization does not mean the end of the traditional role of national languages in the process of nation-state building. Nation states are traditionally against policies of multilinguism & against political rights for minority languages. These processes are still quite visible, particularly in Asia. Nevertheless, globalization is also connected with new regionalism, on intrastate as well as international levels. The new role of languages on the regional level often reflects, especially in developed countries, processes of political decentralization. On the international level there is a special role for imperial languages. However, processes of integration in developed countries, particularly in Europe, in contradistinction to some other regions, are haunted by problems & limits because of language diversity & the lack of one unifying language. 10 References. Adapted from the source document.

This study deals with application of the Norbert Elias's theory of sociogenesis to the case of early Czech state formation. For this purpose we focus on the mechanisms of emergence and establishing of the state monopoly, as well as on the aspects of decentralization and privatization of state power during reign of first Premyslid dukes - from 860 to 1230 AD. In the second place, the article tries to compare the process of sociogenesis in the Western Europe with the dynamics of state formation that was typical for the contemporary Czech lands. In this context we claim that Elias made several mistakes, because he supposed that features and mechanisms of state formation were fairly unitary everywhere Europe. We try to challenge this notion show that the history of state making in the Central European region has many autonomous and unique aspects that differentiate it from social dynamics in other parts of the continent. From this critical pointof view, the article attempts a reformulation of Elias's theory for the Central European area.

In dem Aufsatz wird überdeutlich, daß die Schätzungen der für die NATO-Osterweiterung erforderlichen Kosten eine riesige Spannweite aufweisen. Beim US-Kongreß reicht sie von 60 bis zu 110 Milliarden Dollar, bei der RAND-Corporation von 10 bis zu 110 Milliarden. Demgegenüber kommt eine Gruppe polnischer Analytiker zu erheblich geringeren Zahlen, und es scheint, daß auch das Pentagon wesentlich geringere Schätzungeneinsetzt. Die europäischen Allianz-Mitglieder legen bisher überhaupt keine Kostenschätzungen vor. Offen bleibt auch die Frage, welchen Kostenanteil die NATO-Mitglieder einerseits und die Beitrittskandidaten andererseits übernehmen sollten. Nach Ansicht des Autors wird die militärische Integration ein langwieriger Prozess sein, wobei die neuen Mitliedsstaaten verpflichtet wären, einen erheblichen Teil der Finanzlasten selbst zu übernehmen. (BIOst-Hrs)

This article presents an analysis of the civil war and subsequent developments in Nepal through the concept of the failed state. The aim of the article is to evaluate whether Nepal meets the criteria for being recognised as a failed state. In the first part, the conceptualization of the term failed state and its general definition are introduced. The second part of the article focuses on methodology. Finally, the main part of the article presents an analysis of Nepal through the concept of the failed state, following theoretical concepts developed by Robert I. Rotberg. The authors conclusion is that contemporary Nepal should not be regarded as a failed state. Despite the chronic internal weakness of the country and its institutions, whose functions are in many cases carried out by parallel institutions, it is not possible to say that such functions were completely missing. Instead, we can say that the functions of these institutions and structures are limited -- that is, that these institutions are performing their functions, albeit partially. In addition, the level of violence that occurs in some areas is not comparable with the period when Nepal was experiencing deep internal armed conflict. Adapted from the source document.

The foreign policy of the European Union is usually perceived as being significantly different from the common conception of modern foreign policy of sovereign nation states. In this article we will construct two models of foreign policy & confront them with current EU external relations. Firstly we shall look at the modern foreign policy model based on a neorealist approach. Secondly we shall examine its post-modern alternative that draws its inspiration from the post-structuralism of Jacques Derrida. The comparison is focused on three dimensions: the actor representing the foreign policy; his primary goal; & the key principles invoked in interactions with other actors. We conclude that the EU foreign policy cannot be sufficiently explained by neither of the two models. The large gap between the two models could probably be filled by the third, liberal model of foreign policy. Adapted from the source document.

Preambule české ústavy a naše západní civilizace vycházející z ochrany principů svobody, rovnosti před zákonem a Bohem, legitimity a legality, právního státu, spravedlnosti, tolerance a sekularity je stále více konfrontována s externími – z globalizace vyplývajícími – vlivy a bezpečnostními riziky. Toto je problém střetu civilizací recentně ve východní Evropě.