Suchergebnisse

This article discusses how the Croatian right's attitudes towards gay rights have been defined by nationalism and Europeanism. It focusses on the Croatian Democratic Union (Hrvatska demokratska zajednica, HDZ), which has dominated Croatian politics since it was first elected to government in 1990. It led Croatia to independence from Yugoslavia in 1991 and through the homeland War from 1991 to 1995, and it also started and finished Croatia's negotiations for accession to the European Union from 2005 to 2011. The HDZ government did not actively address gay rights in Croatia in the 1990s, especially since it espoused a heteronationalism influenced by Roman Catholic teachings. Homosexuality was usually mentioned by HDZ officials only in negative terms, such as when allegations of it were used to discredit critics or opponents. Although the HDZ government had sought to integrate Croatia with Western Europe, it was isolated by the West in the late 1990s because of its authoritarian and nationalist tendencies. However, after its electoral defeat in 2000, the HDZ transformed itself into a more moderate right-wing party, and it returned to government in 2003. Subsequently, it had to actively address gay rights, as these had become a prominent political issue under the previous government and with the rise of a local gay movement. As the HDZ government placed EU accession at the centre of its programme, it also came under pressure from the EU to adopt anti-discrimination laws to protect sexual minorities. However, the HDZ continues to oppose the expansion of gay rights in debates on same-sex marriage or adoption rights for same-sex couples, which are not required for admission into the EU, and it continues to do this with references to traditional Croatian and Catholic values.

This paper follows the conceptual definitions offered in Eduard Said's "Orientalization" and Maria Todorova's "Balkanization" toward newly coined term of "West-Balkanization", all as essential features of constructing the Otheness. In this sense, the identities generated by colective definition by the Other (The West), are seen in the abstract symbolic values of the region, which can be traced in real social and political events. Yet, in the modern age the only political perspective for the Balkan is integration with in the West. With the new mainstream of the political and economical integration of the Balkan countries into the European Union the legal frame for mutual direct communication and collaboration is being created. The future projections for this region are movement toward integration into the European Union. So the mutual European identity project can be imposed on the region of the Balkans itself. But at the same time Europe has created a West Balkan region, which besides being a symbolic waiting room, can be seen as political ghettoization of few problematic national issues and in David Noris terms as "the last line of defense against Muslim east". The second part of the paper is focused on the Republic of Macedonia, and its position during the last two decades. It refers to several aspects of the structural position of the country, as well as essential aspects of demography, inter-ethnic relations, regional politics and economy, all united under the Macedonia's prospects for future Euro- Atlantic integration. The last can generate sense of political stability, but also an exclusion from negative symbolism related to historical "Balkanization" or future "West- Balkanization". Key words: Balkan, West Balkan, West, Orient, Macedonia, Stereotypes

The Cold War era has generally been represented as a moment of conservatism when it comes to women's activism. While women's political participation in the Second World War had been studied in detail, women's political and social activism in Cold War Europe has remained under-researched. In my dissertation, I show the liveliness of women's political and social activism in Italy and Yugoslavia in the early Cold War period (1945-1957), demonstrating that women's antifascist organizations played an important role in everyday Cold War politics, at the local and at the international level. The thesis studies in particular the local and international activities of the Union of Italian Women (UDI) and of the Antifascist Women's Front of Yugoslavia (AFŽ), two women's organizations founded during the antifascist Resistance in Italy and Yugoslavia, which continued to play an active political role after 1945. It also takes into account the activities of the Union of Italo-Slovene Antifascist Women (UDAIS) in the contested border city of Trieste. The dissertation is based on extensive fieldwork research in Italian and former Yugoslav archives. Oral history interviews and autobiographies represent a crucial complement to the archival research. Archival documents, and excerpts from oral history interviews and autobiographies in Italian, Serbo-Croatian and French are translated and organized into a single historical narrative, which demonstrates the entangled history of women's antifascist organizations in Italy and Yugoslavia after 1945. By writing this entangled history, I show that transnational connections were established by women across the Italo-Yugoslav border, and across Cold War borders. I explore the bilateral and multilateral relations of the UDI, AFŽ and UDAIS, and their shifting position towards the Women's International Democratic Federation (WIDF). This dissertation is founded upon three main theses. The first thesis is that antifascist women's organizations played an active role in everyday Cold War politics ...

с 1995 года финансовый рынок Российской Федерации пополнился новым механизмом коллективного инвестирования паевыми инвестиционными фондами. Ранее неизвестные отечественному законодательству и юридической науке, инвестиционные фонды были заимствованы из стран англо-саксонской правовой семьи. В связи с этим, считается, что правовое регулирование трастов, фондов коллективного инвестирования, взаимных фондов США и стран Европы является панацеей в решении проблем паевых инвестиционных фондов в России. При этом, совершенно недооценивается опыт бывших советских республик ныне стран-участниц Союза независимых государств, с которыми нас объединяет правопонимание и нормативная база, оставшаяся в наследство после развала Союза ССР. Соответственно, бывшие республики СССР, внедряя схожие институты, сталкиваются с теми же проблемами, что и Россия, но находят свои пути их решения. Чтобы это подтвердить на примере, в настоящей статье будет проведен сравнительный анализ законодательства России и Украины, посвященного инвестиционным фондам. ; since 1995, the financial markets of the Russian Federation added a new mechanism of collective investments mutual funds. Previously unknown domestic legislation and jurisprudence, investment funds have been borrowed from the Anglo-Saxon legal family. In this regard, it is believed that the legal regulation of trusts, collective investment funds, mutual funds, the U.S. and Europe is a panacea in solving problems of mutual funds in Russia. At the same time, completely underestimated the experience of the former Soviet republics now the member countries of the Union of Independent States, with whom we share a Legal Comprehension and regulations left over after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Respectively, the former Soviet republics, introducing similar institutions face the same problems as Russia, but find their solutions. To confirm this as an example, this paper will be a comparative analysis of the legislation of Russia and Ukraine, devoted to mutual funds.

The development of entrepreneurship as well as research and innovation have direct impact on growth in the level of economic development as well as the prosperity of individual citizens and society in general. The primary goal of policies involving research and technological development is establishing the European Union as a leading knowledge-based economy. Innovativeness is also the main factor in improving the competitiveness of companies. The key to improving the economic situation in Poland is the strengthening of innovative attitudes among entrepreneurs. An efficiently running institutional system guaranteeing effective support instruments for entrepreneurs and the scientific-research sphere as well as guaranteeing the unhindered transfer of knowledge should prove helpful. As the main factor in improving the competitiveness of companies, innovativeness is mainly the result of the development of collaboration between the spheres of science and business as well as the use of patent achievements in companies. The drive behind future growth in the European Union will be sectors based on knowledge and innovation. However, these require a solid industrial network and resources allowing the utilization of new technologies. To a great extent, growth in entrepreneurship and innovativeness as significant factors in the economic development of Europe and Poland is dependent on the elimination of administrative barriers for companies and the introduction of the facilitating of information and communication (ICT) as needed for them to function. ; Rozwój przedsiębiorczości oraz badania i innowacje bezpośrednio przyczyniają się do wzrostu poziomu rozwoju gospodarczego oraz dobrobytu poszczególnych obywateli i ogółu społeczeństwa. Głównym celem polityki w zakresie badań i rozwoju technologicznego jest ustanowienie Unii Europejskiej jako wiodącej gospodarki opartej na wiedzy. Innowacyjność jest też głównym czynnikiem poprawy konkurencyjności przedsiębiorstw. Kluczowe dla poprawy sytuacji gospodarczej w ...

Artículos en revistas ; En un entorno internacional azotado por la crisis financiera, Europa 2020 se ha convertido en la nueva estrategia de crecimiento y empleo para la Unión Europea. Con una visión de crecimiento inteligente, sostenible e integrador se pretende recuperar la situación económica global de Europa, mejorando la competitividad y la cohesión económica, social y territorial dentro de la UE. Para ello será preciso, entre otras cosas, conseguir una mejora del mercado laboral europeo, no sólo aumentando los niveles de empleo sino progresando en la formación de los trabajadores y eliminando las desigualdades por razón de género o edad. En este artículo se examina la evolución reciente y la situación actual de dos aspectos clave en el cumplimiento de dicha estrategia, como son la educación y el empleo, con una especial atención a la realidad de la mujer dentro de la UE. ; In the framework of an international environment heavily hampered by the financial crisis, the European Union has launched Europe 2020 as new strategy of intelligent, sustainable and integrative growth in order to recover the European economy and to foster competition and the economical, social and territorial cohesiveness inside the EU. The improvement of the labour market is, among other topics, mandatory, but not only in respect of an increase in the employment rates but also by putting emphasis in the formation of the workforce as well as eliminating all gender or age inequalities. This present article reflects the recent evolution and the current situation of two key criteria for achievement off the above mentioned strategy, in specific the education and the employment, with special attention to the reality of the woman inside the EU. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

SumarioLas coordenadas del debate multicultural: el fin de la Guerra Fría y la mutación del espacio político. Idealismo y neorrealismo. Liberalis- mo y comunitarismo. Repercusiones constitucionales de la multiculturalidad: minorías nacionales, grupos étnicos y nuevos movimientos etnosocioculturales. El factor lingüistico. Integración constitucional y diversidad cultural. El problema multicultural en el proceso de construcción europeo. El modelo post - Maastricht.ResumenEn la ponencia se abordan los problemas del derecho y la integración constitucional en el contexto de la Unión Europea, teniendo como coordenadas el debate multicultural, el fin de una época y la mutación del espacio societal comunitario. Plantea la refundación de los derechos socio–culturales, sin que se diluyan en esa formulación las reivindicaciones de los movimientos sociales, las minorías étnicas y los grupos nacionales. Resalta las repercusiones constitucionales de la multiculturalidad, tras la búsqueda de la integración institucional, dentro del proceso de construcción europea, pre y post-Maastricht.Palabras claves: Integración constitucional, multiculturalidad, Europa.Culture and constitutional intergration in Europe: the re-establishment of cultural rightsAbstractIn this report, the problems of law and constitutional intergration within the European Union are dealt with. It uses as its pointers the multicultural debate, the end of an era and the change of the spacial social community. The re-establishment of socio-cultural rights is covered, that is, without the dissipation in the process of the vindications of social movements, ethnic minorities and national groups. The constitutional repercussions of multiculturism with the aim of institutional intergration is marked, within the european structural process, both pre and post-Maastricht.Artículo: Recibido, marzo de 2001; aprobado, abril de 2001 José Asensi Sabater: Licenciado en Derecho y Doctor por la Universidad Complutense de Madrid, España. Actualmente es profesor Catedrático de ...

Acknowledgement: The University of Malta would like to acknowledge its gratitude to the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union for their permission to upload this work on OAR@UoM. Further reuse of this document can be made, provided the source is acknowledged. This work was made available with the help of the Publications Office of the European Union, Copyright and Legal Issues Section. The pictures contained in the brochures may not ne extracted and used independently ; As part of the Lisbon Strategy for Growth and Jobs, realising the European Research Area (ERA) has become an integral component of the EU's response to the challenges posed by globalisation. The goal is to create a true European Single Market for Research, where knowledge, researchers and technology can move across frontiers in the same way as goods, people, services and capital do. This is the Fifth Freedom; the freedom of movement of knowledge to where it is best used and exploited. This Fifth Freedom is indispensable if Europe is to become the world's leading 'knowledge economy', where knowledge will help sustain prosperity and competitiveness and address the societal challenges that concern European citizens. By bringing together the research community, industry and policy-makers, it promotes scientifi c excellence and addresses the fragmentation and duplication in European research that leads to wasted resources, ground lost to our global competitors and a sub-optimal impact on economic growth and job creation. Making the ERA come true is now a unanimously agreed objective that features high on the political agenda. This book refers to the overall achievements in Malta between 2004 and 2009 in the science and research area. ; N/A

Professor Richard M. Buxbaum delivered the Fourth Annual Herbert L. Bernstein Memorial Lecture in Comparative Law in 2005 and this article is based on his remarks. The article is included in the inaugural volume of CICLOPs that collects the first six Bernstein lectures. In this paper, Richard Buxbaum is primarily concerned with the potential of comparative law as a method to bridge the disparities between the laws of nation-states and the needs of the globalized economy. Buxbaum investigates three separate roles for comparative law in closing this gap: First, he discusses the potential uses of comparative law with regard to the current primacy of national law over the increasingly transnational economic order. Second, he looks into the concern surrounding the growing need for national economic laws to move up a step; here, Buxbaum pays special attention to the problems and benefits created by federalism within both the American and the European systems. Thirdly, and finally, he tackles the elusiveness of what he calls "the slippery issue of 'economic law'". In dealing with each of these strands of thought, Buxbaum focuses predominantly on the European Union system and how comparative law can aid in its struggle not only to unify law, but also in efforts to coordinate law between national, sovereign entities. Due to the high degree of difference in the centralization of authority in the American system over the European Union, Buxbaum is able to cast into high relief the need for comparative law within Europe in the absence of a strong legislative body. Buxbaum uses comparative law to bridge the importance of national law in a transnational order with the challenges of achieving a unified economic law between nations, despite the inherent tension between the two concepts.

The transition 'from planned to market economy' in the former Soviet Union and in several countries in post-communist Europe is one of the most sweeping social transformations of the second half of the 20th century. It is widely accepted that this transformation was driven by a shared belief in the market's superior ability to deliver economic growth, to create wealth and contribute to the well-being of the populations after the demise of the defunct socialist ideology. However, the element of utopian fantasy undergirding the grand projects of socialism and the market is usually ignored, often with detrimental results. The study draws on Freudian and Lacanian psychoanalysis to propose an alternative reading of the process of transition, as an exchange of one powerful fantasy for another. My key contention is that as long as the common utopian dream of social harmony underlying both projects will not be recognised for what it is, which is in itself an unattainable desire of the human psyche, the illusory dreamlands will continue to exist and so will their violent political consequences. The study uses the example of public health policy development in the Soviet Union and post-Soviet Russia to illustrate how unacknowledged fantasy leads to violent utilitarianism as it was manifested in socialism, and is now repeated differently but no less tyrannically in the market. In conclusion, I argue for integrating fantasy as a constitutive element of political projects and explore the possibility of the autonomous (self-determined) mode of governance that Cornelius Castoriadis (1987/2005) theorised on and juxtaposed to the heteronomous ways of organising ruled by master signifiers present in various ideologies.

Before becoming a Christian nation, Lithuania had a choice between the Latin and Greek churches and elected Rome instead of Byzantium. The Western Church showed greater missionary fervor in her evangelizing and sanctifying work, that Lithuania chose to integrate itself into Western Europe by accepting baptism into the Roman Catholic Church. Mindaugas, Grand Duke of Lithuania, was baptized in 1251 and in 1253 was crowned King of Lithuania. This established the foundation for a Lithuanian nation. His death, however, brought great turmoil to the nation until the reign of Vytenis. The Grand Dukes Vytenis, Gediminas and Algirdas understood the historical significance of becoming a Catholic nation, but it was only under the reign of Grand Duke Jogaila that it was accomplished. Jogaila was baptized in 1386 and became the King of Poland. In 1387, Jogaila with a number of clergy and noblemen arrived in Lithuania where he appointed his cousin, Vytautas, as his successor there. Together they built churches and Christianized the ethnic Lithuanian population.The year 1387 is considered the year Lithuania became a Christian nation. However, many parts of the nation were still pagan for a number of years. It was only in 1417 that Samogitia was confirmed as converted. Becoming a Catholic nation had many political ramifications. Even though Jogaila could have been baptized in the Eastern Church, his choice to become a member of the Roman Catholic Church became a turning point in Lithuanian history. The Church's influence extended to almost every aspect of Lithuania's economic, political, cultural and defense spheres. Presently, after many years of Soviet occupation, Lithuania has returned to being an independent nation and a member of the European Union. Its' strong Christian identity helps to monitor the principles and objectives of the European Union to which it belongs.[.].

Before becoming a Christian nation, Lithuania had a choice between the Latin and Greek churches and elected Rome instead of Byzantium. The Western Church showed greater missionary fervor in her evangelizing and sanctifying work, that Lithuania chose to integrate itself into Western Europe by accepting baptism into the Roman Catholic Church. Mindaugas, Grand Duke of Lithuania, was baptized in 1251 and in 1253 was crowned King of Lithuania. This established the foundation for a Lithuanian nation. His death, however, brought great turmoil to the nation until the reign of Vytenis. The Grand Dukes Vytenis, Gediminas and Algirdas understood the historical significance of becoming a Catholic nation, but it was only under the reign of Grand Duke Jogaila that it was accomplished. Jogaila was baptized in 1386 and became the King of Poland. In 1387, Jogaila with a number of clergy and noblemen arrived in Lithuania where he appointed his cousin, Vytautas, as his successor there. Together they built churches and Christianized the ethnic Lithuanian population.The year 1387 is considered the year Lithuania became a Christian nation. However, many parts of the nation were still pagan for a number of years. It was only in 1417 that Samogitia was confirmed as converted. Becoming a Catholic nation had many political ramifications. Even though Jogaila could have been baptized in the Eastern Church, his choice to become a member of the Roman Catholic Church became a turning point in Lithuanian history. The Church's influence extended to almost every aspect of Lithuania's economic, political, cultural and defense spheres. Presently, after many years of Soviet occupation, Lithuania has returned to being an independent nation and a member of the European Union. Its' strong Christian identity helps to monitor the principles and objectives of the European Union to which it belongs.[.].

Several studies have identified the factors that cause public deficits in industrial democracies. They consider that economic, political and institutional factors play an important role in the understanding of those deficits. However, the study of the determinants of excessive deficits remains practically unexplored. Since excessive deficits can have large negative spillover effects when countries are forming a monetary union without a centralised budget –as it is the case for a group of European countries – this paper tries to explore that gap in the literature by identifying the main causes of excessive deficits and the ways of avoiding them. Binary choice models are estimated over a panel of 15 European Union countries for the period 1970-2006, where an excessive deficit is defined as a deficit higher than 3% of GDP. Results show that a weak fiscal stance, low economic growth, the timing of parliamentary elections and majority left-wing governments are the main causes of excessive deficits in the EU countries. Moreover, the institutional constraints imposed after Maastricht over the EU countries' fiscal policy have succeeded in reducing the probability of excessive deficits in Europe, especially in small countries. Therefore, this study concludes that supranational fiscal constraints, national efforts to reduce public debts, growth promoting policies and mechanisms to avoid political opportunism and partisan effects are essential factors for an EU country to avoid excessive deficits. Finally, the results presented in this paper raise the idea that a good strategy for the EU countries to avoid excessive deficits caused by the opportunistic behaviour of their policymakers would be to schedule elections for the beginning or the end of the year. ; Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) - ...

Before becoming a Christian nation, Lithuania had a choice between the Latin and Greek churches and elected Rome instead of Byzantium. The Western Church showed greater missionary fervor in her evangelizing and sanctifying work, that Lithuania chose to integrate itself into Western Europe by accepting baptism into the Roman Catholic Church. Mindaugas, Grand Duke of Lithuania, was baptized in 1251 and in 1253 was crowned King of Lithuania. This established the foundation for a Lithuanian nation. His death, however, brought great turmoil to the nation until the reign of Vytenis. The Grand Dukes Vytenis, Gediminas and Algirdas understood the historical significance of becoming a Catholic nation, but it was only under the reign of Grand Duke Jogaila that it was accomplished. Jogaila was baptized in 1386 and became the King of Poland. In 1387, Jogaila with a number of clergy and noblemen arrived in Lithuania where he appointed his cousin, Vytautas, as his successor there. Together they built churches and Christianized the ethnic Lithuanian population.The year 1387 is considered the year Lithuania became a Christian nation. However, many parts of the nation were still pagan for a number of years. It was only in 1417 that Samogitia was confirmed as converted. Becoming a Catholic nation had many political ramifications. Even though Jogaila could have been baptized in the Eastern Church, his choice to become a member of the Roman Catholic Church became a turning point in Lithuanian history. The Church's influence extended to almost every aspect of Lithuania's economic, political, cultural and defense spheres. Presently, after many years of Soviet occupation, Lithuania has returned to being an independent nation and a member of the European Union. Its' strong Christian identity helps to monitor the principles and objectives of the European Union to which it belongs.[.].

During the last 5 years, information on the regional tropospheric ozone levels over the eastern Mediterranean has become available but was confined to measurements at ground level. Here available information is expanded with measurements at two more rural ground level sites spanning 8° latitude, ozonesonde ascents, lidar observations, ship cruises, and aircraft flights. During wintertime the ozone monthly values are 1020 ppbv higher than values at other European sites, while during summertime the values are comparable. This results in regional ozone background levels in the area that are above the European Union (EU) 32 ppb/24 hours phytotoxicity limit during the entire year. Late spring lidar observations show that south and southwestern synoptic flows which are associated with Saharan dust events result in lower ozone above the planetary boundary layer (PBL) by 20-35 ppbv as compared to these during northerly flows, which transport air from continental Europe. These lidar observations along with ship measurements during July show that ozone is enhanced 1.5-2.2 times in the continental outflow, when compared to aged maritime air or air from the African continent. These results along with ozonesonde observations suggest that ozone abatement in the area is largely beyond the control of regional emissions and can be controlled only with emission reductions on a European scale. During September, measured background NO and NO2 levels between 3 and 4.5 km above sea level ranged from 1 to 221 pptv and from 102 to 580 pptv, respectively. The troposphere contains around 40-70 Dobson units of ozone during summer and around 20-30 Dobson units during winter. Copyright 2002 by the American Geophysical Union.