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This article focuses on the connection between fi nancial aid systems in higher education and the development of inequalities in access to higher education. Although the student financial aid system is just one of a number of factors that infl uence a person's chances of studying in higher education, its role in a person's decision to pursue higher education may be of fundamental significance for those with lower socio-economic status. Therefore, the authors of this article focus on the effect of the fi nancial conditions of study on the chances that individuals from families with low socio-economic status have obtained higher education. The analysis looks at developments in the Czech Republic and the Netherlands, because Czech and Dutch student financial aid systems have been evolving in very different directions over the last two decades, while their secondary school systems continue to share very similar features. The analysis reveals that student financial aid based primarily on direct financial support (as in the Netherlands) was accompanied by a decline in inequalities in access to education, even though students had to pay tuition, while a system of financial aid primarily involving indirect support (as in the Czech Republic) applied over the same period did not inhibit increasing inequalities, despite the fact that during the period under observation students were not required to pay tuition.

"The main topic of the text is the history of the only Czech village in Bulgaria - Vojvodovo. The article covers the whole "Czech" period of this village from the migration of some twenty Protestant families from Banatian Czech village of Svatá Helena to Bulgaria and the foundation of Vojvodovo in 1900, to the post-war period when almost all Czech inhabitants of Vojvodovo left the village and moved to the South-Moravia region in Czechoslovakia. In a rather classic way the author describes the spheres of language, folklore, kinship and economy of the community, and proves that its main core was its religiosity described as the community-differentiating and community-maintaining principle." (author's abstract)

We analyse potential sources of internal imbalances, specifically as regards private and public indebtedness. The combination of a high public debt and increasing private sector indebtedness have been a source of concern in the perspective of the funding of the economy in examined countries. We utilize the detailed financial accounts as an analytical framework for revealing the development of private sector's indebtedness in 18 EU countries in the period 1995-2012. Ratio of private debt (non-financial corporations, households and non-profit institutions serving households) to GDP was steadily increasing till 2009 with a decrease in the following years. After the decomposition of the private sector debt several facts stand out. Highly indebted, on the average, are households in Denmark and The Netherlands. Postsocialist countries have still low indebtedness, but are catching up. In panel regressions (fixed effects) the dependent variable is overlapping two-and free-year forward looking averages. The control variables are those usually used in growth equations a la R. Barro. We have utilised also instrumental variables (Pooled IV Two-stage EGLS) and 3 years averages for all variables to capture medium-run impacts. Having analysed the impacts of different private debt variables on the growth rate of real GDP we assert that the impact has been negative and statistically significant in almost all growth regressions. Adapted from the source document.

The study analyzes the formal powers of current European monarchs, and examines their actual use. We investigate the royal prerogatives of monarchs from ten European nations: Belgium, Denmark, Lichtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. The text deals with four powers - legislative initiative, royal assent/veto, selection/appointment of the prime minister and dissolution of parliament. The constitutional power is described first; its real use in the period of 1990-2012 is then examined. At the end, a comparison of every single prerogative is carried out, conclusions about the actual position of monarchs in current European political systems are drawn, and a tentative answer to questions concerning the future of kings, princes, and grand dukes serving as heads of state in European countries is suggested. Adapted from the source document.

This article seeks to explain the significant variation of the levels of European NATO member states' contributions to Afghan combat and reconstruction operations. The first part presents the theories used in the study and six hypotheses, which are tested using a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). This sophisticated method, which was introduced to the social sciences by Charles Ragin, uses a special software to find combinations of independent variables which may explain the dependent variable with a given probability. The findings are presented in the second part, followed by three short case studies of Greece, the Netherlands and Estonia which provide a further insight into the issue. The study concludes that the most plausible explanation of high level of involvement in Afghanistan is a conjunction of allegiance to the 'new Europe' and dependence on importation of Russian gas. Adapted from the source document.

Why are things different on the other side of national borders; and how can this be explained sociologically? This inaugural lecture tries to answer these questions, starting from the example of the bicycle in the Netherlands. It distinguishes four processes that have contributed to increasing similarity within nations: growing interdependence within nations; increasing density of networks and institutions; vertical diffusion of styles and standards; and the development of national we-feelings. Together, these processes have contributed to the development of national habitus: increasing similarities within nations, and increasing differences between people living in different countries. These processes have reached their apex in the second half of the twentieth century. Since then, they have diminished, leading to increasing variations within countries, and growing similarities between comparable groups in different countries. This analysis poses new questions and challenges for sociologists. First, it leads us to rethink comparative research: what are we comparing when we compare nations, and is this still a viable unit of analysis? Second, it leads us to consider how the transfer of styles and standards occurs in our informalized, globalized, and mediatized age. Third, sociologists should analyse the new forms of inequality resulting from these processes, such as the growing rift between 'locals' and (bike-loving) cosmopolitans.

This study is based on a comparative analysis of political elites' circulation in six countries -- Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Finland, the Netherlands & Great Britain during the 1993-2003 period. For the purposes of the comparison, in each case study the members of parliament or the lower chamber are chosen as a representative sample of the political elites. The comparative analysis assesses the correctness of the following hypothesis: The type of elites & their circulation is interrelated with the type of political system. The study is methodologically based on the modern theory of elites & its hypothesis that every type of political system is tightly connected with the type of political elites that exist within it, & that every type of political elites can be distinguished by a specific type of circulation. Thus, by measuring the circulation of political elites we can infer the type of political elites & even the type of political regime. This study assesses the circulation of parliamentary representatives in the six selected countries during the 1993-2003 period & finds out that in the Central European states the figures are clearly distinctive from the respective figures in the Western European states, thus confirming the original hypothesis. Tables, Graphs, References. Adapted from the source document.

The presented article aims to analyze & compare military peace support operations conducted by the EU (PSO EU). These operations are treated as the benchmark test of the implementation capability of the European Security & Defense Policy project, a project which is limited by the member states' capacities & their political will. Also the relationship between the North Atlantic Treaty Organization & the European Union must be analyzed & the unsettled state of the European allies' capabilities, as well as the crucial role of NATO to ensure a common defense must be further looked into. Nevertheless, one should still keep in mind that no effective military action could be taken without disposable well-equipped, tailored & trained operational capabilities. Concerning the European Union & its member states, this finding has still not been sufficiently put into practice. Adapted from the source document.

This study analyses the causes of the fall of the Chechen state after its de facto independence (1996-1999) following the so-called First Russian-Chechen War (1994-1996). The failed incursion of the (predominantly Wahhabi) Chechen-Dagestani guerillas in Dagestan (August 1999), designed to inflame a regional rebellion against Russia, resulted in the current Second Russian-Chechen War. The Chechen state's failure was mainly caused by internal factors, primarily the 'clanish' division of Chechen society & customary legal norms (eg., blood feuds), but also the spread of political Islam & the expansion of North Caucasian Wahhabism. Considering recent attempts to extend the conflict over Chechnya's borders, this field continues to be of immense import. In Dagestan, Ingushetia, Kabardino-Balkaria & elsewhere, processes similar to those being studied may be better understood following this study. Adapted from the source document.

This article maps state visits by the presidents of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Austria between 2004 and 2010. It has two goals. First, the article describes and compares the structure of the five presidents' state visits according to the countries and regions visited and according to the type of visit (official, working, or multilateral visit). Second, data about the state visits of the heads of states are utilized as an indicator of the geopolitical orientation of the respective state. All five countries under study show strong geopolitical orientation towards Western Europe, especially Germany. Nevertheless, our data also show certain differences in geopolitical priorities. Poland stands out with its extraordinarily strong orientation towards Eastern and Northern Europe (the Baltics). The Czech Republic is characterised by a relatively stronger preference for the transatlantic relationship. Our data also show that Hungary is to a certain degree isolated as it is not a favoured destination for presidential visits. Adapted from the source document.