Suchergebnisse

One of the defining features of modern states is their incorporation of notions of political and social community based on shared language, history, and myths. However, large numbers of citizens in modern states have come to believe their national communities are under threat from several modern forces, including immigration. Using the European Social Survey (2002-9), this article explores the extent to which perceived threats posed by large-scale immigration undermine national political communities by reducing trust in national politicians and political institutions. The findings indicate that even after controlling for other predictors of trust in the political system, concerns about the effect of immigration on the national community have an impact on trust in politics. Moreover, having a lengthy postwar history with mass immigration mediates this effect, while the potentially mobilizing effects of far-right parties on the relationship between concern about immigration and political distrust are somewhat limited. (World Politics / SWP)

A number of comparative judicial scholars have argued that assertions of judicial authority are a function of the level of fragmentation/competition in the formal political sphere. Accordingly, in authoritarian or one-party settings, judges should be deferential to power holders, and in places where political power is divided between branches and/or parties, one would expect to see greater levels of judicial assertiveness. Through a longitudinal, qualitative analysis of one most-likely case (Chile) and one least-likely case (Franco-era Spain) and drawing on a half-dozen other cases from the comparative judicial literature, this article argues that political fragmentation is neither sufficient nor necessary for judges to challenge powerful actors. Instead, it argues that assertive or "positively independent" judicial behavior requires ideational support, in the form of a role conception/professional ideology that gives judges motivation for such behavior. Such professional attitudes are socially and institutionally constituted in a dynamic process that itself shapes judges' perceptions of the opportunities for and obstacles to judicial assertiveness, both within and outside the judiciary. (World Politics / SWP)

Does "soft power" matter in international relations? Specifically, when the United States seeks cooperation from countries around the world, do the views of their publics about US foreign policy affect the actual foreign policy behavior of these countries? The authors examine this question using multinational surveys covering fifty-eight countries, combined with information about their foreign policy decisions in 2003, a critical year for the US. They draw their basic conceptual framework from Joseph Nye, who uses various indicators of opinion about the US to assess US soft power. But the authors argue that his theory lacks the specificity needed for falsifiable testing. They refine it by focusing on foreign public opinion about US foreign policy, an underemphasized element of Nye's approach. Their regression analysis shows that foreign public opinion has a significant and large effect on troop commitments to the war in Iraq, even after controlling for various hard power factors. It also has significant, albeit small, effects on policies toward the International Criminal Court and on voting decisions in the UN General Assembly. These results support the authors' refined theoretical argument about soft power: public opinion about US foreign policy in foreign countries does affect their policies toward the US, but this effect is conditional on the salience of an issue for mass publics. (World Politics / SWP)

In the reign of Peter I the Great diplomats were not only representatives of Russian interests in the world but were also media of national cultural values dissemination. A vivid example of such experience is Prince B. I. Kurakin. Being in Rome he tried to understand the essence of political and economic arrangements of the society, peculiarities of social development. As the description of Rome was one of the first B. I. Kurakin's impressions of the West, it was a bit naïve. In spite of this fact, Kurakin's evidence givesus an opportunity to study the process of the «Dialogue of Cultures» and Roman society of the first half of the XVIII century.

Article deals with the struggle for the County of Flanders between England and France in the second half of the XIV century. It concerns with the changes in their tactic: England and France stopped the warfare for a short period of time and used the means of diplomacy to gain Flanders instead. Members of the Plantagenet (Edmund Langley) and the Valois (Philip the Bold duke of Burgundy) dynasties in their matrimonial policy tried to seek the hand of the heiress of Flanders – Marguerite of Males.

The author of this article examine the contents letter from John Hus to english magister lollard Richard Wyche, which be written by autumn 1410 year and this letter place in History of Bohemian Reformation XV century.

The article examines the issues connected with a foreign contemporary's perception of the urban space of London at the end of the XVI century basing on the analysis of "Travels in England" by Thomas Platter, a Swiss humanist. A particular attention is focused on clearing out the traveler's views on the significance of the city, its size and planning, main elements and landmarks.

The paper deals with specifity of a representation of British history by French humanist E. Pasquier. The author attempts to present the special attitude of French historian towards English nation and to find out the ways in forming the image of traditional enemy due to analysis of English and French history's facts during the Great Migrations, and poque of medieval struggle between England and France. Pasquier devotes the intent attention to Religious confrontation during the Reformation and to the tragic fate of Mary Stuart. The paper's content demonstrates that Humanist's negative concept of Englishmen served to creation of image of alien and propaganda of tolerance.

The article reviews the activities of Secretaries of State for War of Great Britain, Alfred Duff Cooper and Leslie Hore-Belisha on specific issues of modernization of British land forces during the period of 1936–1939. The work is based mainly on archival material: memoranda and conclusions of the British Cabinet, which are available on the official site of the National Archives of Great Britain.