Suchergebnisse

The Middle East has been caught in a cycle of Israeli-Palestinian violence for the last two years. Last year brought some changes that have the potential to bring about a shift in this violent situation. First, within a very short time period two figureheads of the Islamic militant group Hamas were killed by Israelis: the spiritual leader Sheikh Ahamad Yassin & the leader of Hamas, Abdal Aziz Al Rantissi. Second, an important development in the past year was the change in the policy of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. He came up with the so-called "Disengagement Plan," which envisioned the retreat of Israeli settlers from the Gaza Strip. Such a plan was not expected from a settlement-pioneer like Sharon. Third, an event of great importance for the Middle East was the re-election of American President George W. Bush. US diplomacy plays a crucial role in the Middle East. Fourth, probably the most important event in the region was the death of long-time Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. His death will have a strong influence on the future of Israeli-Palestinian relations. The four developments are in the center of this article's analysis. References. Adapted from the source document.

"This article deals with the relationship between public opinion and rumour from ancient times, through the Middle Ages and right up to today. It will examine the terms which were used and which often depended not just on a particular author but usually an entire social class. The most often used terms to describe opinion, fama and existimatio, occurred in the speeches of politicians which were presented as the valuable opinions of the elite whereas the concepts opinio, rumor or sermo were considered as low value and unreliable opinions of plebeians to whom the ruling classes attributed the spreading and creation of rumours. The concept of fama, more often fama publica, indicated in the Middle Ages a local network of knowledge, a mechanism for the collective evaluation of an individual. In this sense it played an important role in the courts of law. The issue of rumours is common to all subsequent historical periods because public opinion usually both generated, and was supported, by rumour. The article also puts forward a hypothesis why the all-powerful fama dissapeared from the courtrooms, why it lost its significance and became purely a rumour." (author's abstract)

This paper compares the standard economic & a complementary socioeconomic approach to the transition. While the economic approach looks at social problems from the outside & views them as costs of transition, the socioeconomic approach looks at these problems from the inside & views them as a part of the social change taking place. Both approaches are used here to analyze four frictions, concerning (1) the PAYG pension system, which emphasizes intergenerational dependence & turns pensioners into a socially needy population; (2) the relation between low market wages & a higher welfare provision, which creates a poverty trap & leads to a culture of dependency; (3) the insufficient incentives for middle-class expansion, which contrasts with the key role this class should play in the future prosperity of society; & (4) tensions between various sections of the middle class. 6 Tables, 2 Figures, 4 Graphs, 17 References. Adapted from the source document.

This study examines the question whether uncoordinated steps of some EU states changing their deposit insurance schemes in the middle of 2008 could have led to shift of deposits among EU countries. The paper deals with changes of the rules which were introduced at the end of year 2008, and concerns with the amended Directive on Deposit Guarantee Schemes. Empirical analysis concentrates on the impact of state guarantees on the deposit grow rate in individual states. In the final part, we discuss the consequences of recent development. Adapted from the source document.

This article centres around the Czechoslovakian perception of holiday travel to
Yugoslavia in the 1920s with particular attention to the typology of Czech tourists. It has been
shown that travel to Yugoslavia was very popular among the middle classes who had enough
time and money. The wealthier classes preferred France. The main selling points travel agents
and hotel owners used to promote travel to Yugoslavia were affordability, service targeted to
Czechs and Pan-slavism. The idea of a mutual Slavonic tradition had been in existence since the
19th century. Evidence would seem to show that the most significant factor for repeat travel was
affordability. Conservative Czech tourists remained loyal guests of Yugoslavia during the 1920s
and 1930s.

The article discusses the outcomes of elections to the European Parliament in Austria in June 2004. Attitudes of relevant Austrian parties towards the European integration project are briefly discussed and placed on the theoretical scale that ranges from "Hard Euroscepticism" and "Identity Europeanism". The presented outcomes of the elections are put into the general context of the Austrian party system and voters' preferences since the middle 1980s. Special attention is given to the phenomenon of Hans-Peter Martin's populist list that won almost 14 % of the vote. Also, relatively low voter turnout is discussed. The Austrian example is very suitable for theorizing European elections as elections of less voters´ attention that is conceptualized at the end of the article.

This paper investigates the effects of economic growth on income inequality in EU countries by employing econometric models. We estimated the effect of growth on the share of income for all particular deciles of population and on the Gini. Other control variables were included in the models as well. The results showed a negative effect of economic growth on inequality, while this impact is the largest for the deciles ranging from the third to the seventh. This can be perceived as an indication of a shrinking middle class. Inequality-increasing effects were found for long-term unemployment, openness and partly for indicators of importance of the financial sector. Factors reducing inequality were rule of law and population with tertiary education. The size of government turned out to be a rather insignificant determinant.

The objective of this article is to provide a survey of basic facts about process of globalization. We can define globalization as the international economic integration through particular markets. Globalization is largely continual & objective process that began approximately in the middle of nineteenth century. Main factors determining globalization are technology & liberalization & also "desire of people to participate in globalization." On the other hand globalization reinforces these factors. Within globalization we can also see two following processes. The essence of the first one is centralization & concentration of production & capital & in the centre of second one stands a process of transnationalization. The results of these tendencies are creation & action of transnational corporations. Today these firms are major entities forming present globalization. It is also necessary to give certain attention to the role of state in current world. References. Adapted from the source document.