Suchergebnisse

Adapted from the source document.

The paper explores the epistemic fruitfulness of the contemporary theories of modern relations for historical research about the relations between premodern polities. The author suggests to replace the concepts of "international system" and "international society" by the broader notions of "interpolity system" and that of "interpolity society". It is demonstrated that A. Wendt's thesis that in the premodern times international politics was dominated by the Hobbesian culture of anarchy disregards historical evidence about the "Lockean" realities of the dynastic politics in the medieval Europe and other places. The author also criticise H. Bull's concept of international society because of its assumption that Westphalian peace treaty of 1648 was the date of birth of the international law and international society as historical reality. Paper includes a case study about the changing roles and challenges of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (GDL) as the subject of interpolity relations in XIII-XV centuries. It focuses on the rise of GDL from the polity playing the role of the barrier (but not that of buffer) polity, separating Central European and Eastern European interpolity systems and belonging to both of them, to the regional empire and suzerain polity of the Eastern European interpolity system by the early XVth century. However, Lithuanian hegemony in Eastern Europe lasted only very few years. After 1430, the Eastern European interpolity system was about to transform itself from the suzerain polity system into a multipolar sovereign interpolity system of the type that consolidated in the Central and Western Europe after 1648 and survived for 300 years. However, the political leadership of GDL failed to meet the challenge to maintain an emerging multipolar balance of power in this system. Adapted from the source document.

The article deals with the main preconditions for the application of the EU conditionality. It argues that the experience of the Western Balkan & the ENP countries could be used to assess the preconditions of the success of the Europeanization in Central & Eastern Europe. It also provides arguments for the critical assessment of the role of the EU membership perspective in the success of the domestic reforms. Three main conditions are identified & suggestions for further research are made. Adapted from the source document.

It is a common perception that 20 years after the fall of communism, the countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CCEE), even though they have joined the EU, belong to the group of post-communist countries. This article analyses whether a clear distinction in the quality of democracy between the CCEE, which are new member states of the EU, and the old member states still could be made. The analysis has been performed by comparison of the democracy indicators of the countries of Southern Europe, Nordic countries and the CCEE. The research has revealed that the scores of democracy indicators of the countries of Southern Europe and the CCEE do not differ significantly, and in some cases, the scores of the group of the CCEE correspond to a better quality of democracy. The scores of democracy indicators of the individual countries of the two groups overlap in most cases. However, the analysis has exhibited a considerable difference of the democracy indicators between the countries of Southern Europe and Nordic countries, although these countries belong to the group of the old member states of the EU. Thus, the difference in the scores of democracy indicators inside the group of the old member states of the EU is bigger than the difference between the CCEE and the countries of Southern Europe. This means that the requirements for the quality of democracy, which are applied to mature Western democracies, have to be applied to the CCEE. Adapted from the source document.

The article analyzes the concept of national state & the meaning of national independence. Political independence has proven to be a much greater challenge to the nations of Eastern & Central Europe. The population of the region is not merely aware of the fact that political independence is difficult to gain; they believe that it is far more important to handle the tasks related to moral & cultural justification of independence. The said aspects do not vanish from the horizon of philosophical, moral & political reflections of the nations within the region. Links with the Western culture is one of the topical subjects in Eastern & Central Europe. However, from the vantage point of political independence the Western culture tends to undermine the spirit of the nations within the region rather than uplift it. The ailments of the Western culture, when brought to the region, are perceived as the factors destroying the meaning of independence. Adapted from the source document.

Straipsnyje poeto, mistiko, diplomato Oskaro Milasiaus (1877-1939) palikimas nagrinejamas is politiniu ideju perspektyvos. Keliamas klausimas, kaip autorius supranta Europos vienybe, siekiama vienijimosi prielaidas isvesti is publicistiniu rastu politinemis temomis bei metafiziniu poemu 'Ars Magna' ir 'Slepiniai'. Milasiaus izvalgos galimo Europos saliu susivienijimo klausimu analizuojamos to meto idejiniame lauke, pabreziant bendrumus ir isryskinant Milasiaus savituma. Svarstoma, ar ir kokiu laipsniu poeto, rasiusio apie Jungtines Europos Valstijas, idejos galetu buti priskiriamos kuriai nors tarpukariu egzistavusiai federalistu stovyklai - liberalams paneuropistams ar katalikams. Milasiaus Europos vienybes samprata analizuojama trimis aspektais - tikslo, budo ir pagrindo. Daroma isvada, jog Milasius kritikuoja faktine Europos bukle po Pirmojo pasaulinio karo ir kaip alternatyva siulo vienybe ir dvasiniu, ir politiniu poziuriu. Teigiama, kad poetas siekia atsakyti i savo epochos klausimus savitu budu, pasitelkdamas ne tik geopolitinius, bet ir mitologinius bei mesianistinius argumentus The article examines the heritage of poet, mystic and diplomat Oscar Milosz (1877-1939) from the point of politically significant ideas. The aim is to grasp the understanding of the unity of Europe from the selected political articles 'Deux messianismes politiques' as well as metaphysical poems 'Ars Magna' and 'Les Arcanes'. The premises of Milosz are situated in the intellectual context of European unity ideas of his contemporaries. The analysis shows that Milosz is critical about the situation of interwar Europe that he faces. As an alternative to this he suggests the unity in spiritual and political sense. It is argued in the paper that poet tries to capture the main questions of his epoch, although in a very exclusive manner, by lumping together geopolitical, mythological, messianistic arguments. Adapted from the source document.