Suchergebnisse

The work is a compilation of well-chosen and documented works on local governments in the states of Central and Eastern Europe. The timeline that the authors have assumed has its starting point in the beginning of the 1990s, when the transformation processes of the states of the former Soviet block had begun. This also marks the beginning of the process of forming of democratic state structures, including local governments.

AbstractThis article critically examines the prevalent nationalist interpretation of historical images featuring textiles from rural regions. In an effort to disentangle the threads of folk costumes, it proposes a conscious unlearning of the way we read images of rural material culture from the late 19th century. This period has entered historiography as a period of intensifying national movements and political use of rural culture, in particular in Central and Eastern Europe. So-called folk costumes have been viewed as a symbolic representation of the nation, whereas their broader social and economic role in the history of industrial society has been overshadowed. By bringing together the production, collection, and exhibition of rural material culture, this article reveals processes in industrial society that shaped the modern history of folk costumes. It draws on late-19th-century source material stemming from a network centered in Prague that promoted textiles from rural Bohemia, Moravia, Hungary, and Galicia as ethno-commodities. Textiles were integrated into women's industrial education and presented at events promoting national economy and the latest technological innovations. Thus, this article contributes to nationalism studies by discussing capitalism and industrialism and seeks to further scrutinize the history of nationalism in Central and Eastern Europe.

The article is dedicated to analyzing the phenomenon of Christian Democratic parties and their ideologies in general and in Central and Eastern Europe in particular. The author has determined social dimensions (social base and social issues) of Christian Democratic parties in Central-Eastern Europe, as well as its impact on electoral/cabinet success of liberal parties; carried out the comparative analysis of the electoral success of Christian Democratic parties in Central-Eastern Europe in 1990–2014.

City branding is becoming more and more popular, not only as a field of research, but also as a practice of local governments. Municipalities attempt to introduce this concept into their sustainable transformation process, positioning a city among its stakeholders as, for instance, an eco-oriented, innovative, or smart city. An idea that fosters building a strong and consistent city brand is brand personality. The aim of the paper is to diagnose a city&rsquo ; s brand personality dimensions/traits communicated via posts published on official Facebook accounts of cities and to identify differences occurring within this scope between cities of two selected Central and Eastern European countries&mdash ; Poland and Ukraine. To achieve this aim, the research involved a content analysis of 1700 posts published by 34 municipalities representing regional capital cities of Poland and Ukraine. On the basis of these study results, the authors have supplemented the Aaker (1997) five-dimensional scale of brand personality with the sixth dimension: Prosocial Attitude, which includes cooperative and bureaucratic traits, to better comply with the approach of cities to problems of their inhabitants and their surrounding environment, which is consistent with the idea of sustainability. Furthermore, the fifth trait has been added to characteristics which make up Aaker&rsquo ; s Excitement dimension. Dubbed as patriotic, it refers to the city&rsquo ; s activities related to the local celebration of historical events, indicating national pride and identification with its place of residence. Bureaucratic and patriotic traits were quite frequently observed in posts published on the official Facebook accounts of Ukrainian cities. Moreover, the research proves that in case of Polish cities the dominating brand personality dimensions are Sincerity and Excitement. Ukrainian cities tend to exercise communication based on the Sincerity and Competence dimension.

The events taking place in Central and Eastern Europe (primarily in Ukraine and Latvia) indicate a serious problem facing believers in these States, and are also a signi cant challenge to the adopted approach regarding the right to autonomy of religious associations, a ecting and having signi cance for the entire European continent. Currently, the state authorities of Ukraine and Latvia are taking measures aimed at signi cantly limiting the activities of religious associations that have historically been in churchcanonical connection with the Russian Orthodox Church. It seems that the actions of the State authorities of these countries can be characterized as excessive interference in the autonomy of religious organizations guaranteed by the Constitution of Ukraine and the Republic of Latvia, as well as the European Convention on Human Rights. Meanwhile, the ECHR has formed a stable practice defending the right to autonomy of religious associations in the states of Central and Eastern Europe, as well as guaranteeing protection from unjusti ed state interference in the internal a airs of the church. In this article, the author attempts not only to analyze the precedents already considered in the practice of the ECHR, but also to predict a possible Court decision regarding the actions of state authorities of Ukraine and Latvia on the way from politics to law

Das vorliegende Buch befaßt sich mit Umweltfragen in den Transformationsländern. Dabei stehen weniger Berichte über den momentanen Zustand der Umwelt auf dem Programm, als vielmehr Analysen darüber, unter welchen Aspekten dort Umweltprobleme behandelt und Umweltpolitik betrieben werden. Es wird untersucht, wie Umweltschutzmaßnahmen finanziert werden und wie das Management in diesem Bereich aussieht. Zahlreiche Grafiken und Tabellen verdeutlichen die Analysen.