Suchergebnisse

The relation between the working of democratic systems today and the exploitation of "modern" forms of politically motivated extreme violence, especially the different types of subversive terrorism, has been an object of thorough study and discussion at most varied levels in the course of recent decades, often with contradictory results. This is not a surprise bearing in mind the diversity of bases for such study and discussion, as well as the complexity and changing nature of the subject matter itself, and last but not least, also the deforming impact of different political factors which in many a case predetermined both the horizon of discussions and the character of "politically correct" or at least acceptable conclusions. This does not apply just to decayed political and propagandist writings displaying a remarkable dose of cynicism and lack of shame in serving the interests of power which decided who would be labelled "terrorist" or "freedom fighter", or else. There is a number of scientific works defending the principles and values of democracy which also display apparent effort to a priori exclude raising a particular problem in full in order to prevent any doubt being cast on the purposefulness and justifiability of traditional approaches to and standpoints regarding the assessment of political violence and extremism. At the same time, polemics regarding terrorism had a large impact. Discussions about terrorism changed the way the public felt about both terrorism as a particular category of extremist violence, and politically motivated violence and extremism as such, propagating and reinforcing the view of political violence (acceptance of violent methods of political fight including terrorism) as an utterly undemocratic and anti-democratic behaviour and as a key characteristic of extremism. There is a growing tendency in substantial part of the public in democratic countries today to a priori associate manifestations of extremist orientation with acts of politically motivated violence, and to identify ...

The paper concentrates on attitudes to the enlargement and the future of EU held by relevant political parties in the Czech Republic and in Slovakia in 2002. With respect to the Czech Republic, three basic approaches to the issue of EU enlargement are identified, thus classifying the Czech political parties as "consistently" pro-European, pro-European "with reservations" and anti-European. It will be argued that in Slovakia the relevant political parties acted as "consistently" pro-European with the exception of the anti-European Slovak National Party (SNS) and the Communist Party of Slovakia (KSS). The dividing line was however rather between the parties whose representatives could be viewed by international partners as an obstacle to Slovakia's admission to EU and the parties that were "acceptable" for foreign countries, which played an important role in rallying voters to opt for "acceptable" political subjects. ; The paper concentrates on attitudes to the enlargement and the future of EU held by relevant political parties in the Czech Republic and in Slovakia in 2002. With respect to the Czech Republic, three basic approaches to the issue of EU enlargement are identified, thus classifying the Czech political parties as "consistently" pro-European, pro-European "with reservations" and anti-European. It will be argued that in Slovakia the relevant political parties acted as "consistently" pro-European with the exception of the anti-European Slovak National Party (SNS) and the Communist Party of Slovakia (KSS). The dividing line was however rather between the parties whose representatives could be viewed by international partners as an obstacle to Slovakia's admission to EU and the parties that were "acceptable" for foreign countries, which played an important role in rallying voters to opt for "acceptable" political subjects.

Samoobrona (Self-Defense) and League of Polish Families (LPR) won the seats in the Sejm in the parliamentary elections in September 2001. Both parties represent radical opposition in the Polish parliament. They critisize Poland´s accession to the EU and the situation in the country after 1989 in general. The following text describes the history of both parties and the cardinal points of their policies. ; Samoobrona (Self-Defense) and League of Polish Families (LPR) won the seats in the Sejm in the parliamentary elections in September 2001. Both parties represent radical opposition in the Polish parliament. They critisize Poland´s accession to the EU and the situation in the country after 1989 in general. The following text describes the history of both parties and the cardinal points of their policies.

This article analyzes the history, development, & continuity of the sociology of law within the context of Czech social & legal science since 1989. The sociology of law is depicted as a branch of both social & legal science that has suffered greatly from different political discontinuities & ideological repression during the communist era. After the 1989 political changes, the weak tradition of the Czech sociology of law had to be reconstituted. This development is mainly typical of the law faculties of different Czech universities, while academics trained in general sociology & social theory rather continue to ignore the importance & social functions of the legal system in the process of the postcommunist transformation of Czech society.

The paper explains the theory of bureaucracy developed by William A. Niskanen. While sociologist Max Weber's analysis treats bureaucrats as "eunuchs" or automatic machines responsible for public well-being, Niskanen tries to apply standard neoclassical economic models to explain the behavior of bureaucracy as a whole. With this background, he concludes that the bureaucracy will concentrate on bargaining processes with the sponsor & not on improving the quality of its services to the public. This is a simple explanation of why the bureaucratic organization provides systematically worse products & services to its customers than does the standard private firm operating on the market. 19 References. Adapted from the source document.

The article aims to review the political developments in African states throughout their recent post-colonial past. Uprooting political violence & anchoring a stable structure based on a society-wide consensus being just two of the several prerequisites for solving so many other problems which trouble Africa today, this article aims to diagnose at least some root causes & consequences of the generally unsatisfactory political situation on the continent. Having identified a set of political instability symptoms (coups d'etat, civil wars, failed putches etc.) the author first ranks African states according to their political instability rate. On the basis of statistical correlation analysis, the author then investigates the relation between political instability in Africa & a number of quantifiable geographical, demographical, military & economic variables. The author has identified some dispositions increasing -- though with only small statistical significance -- the probability of instability in African states. In order of importance, these include: large territory, high illiteracy rate, low urbanization, high number of ethnic groups living within the territory, & large population. Also, there is a close link between political instability & governmental military spending. It probably has a negative impact on a number of key economic indicators, be it GDP growth, GDP per capita levels, domestic savings, or price level developments. In the final part of his article, the author makes a brief summary of political developments in African countries in the 21st century. Tables, Appendixes, References. Adapted from the source document.

Commemorates the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Czech professional economic journal Politicka ekonomie by publishing in Volume 2003 articles that will deal with its history, development, peripeties, twists, & turns. Issue No. 5 is focused on the period 1971-1978. 6 References. Adapted from the source document.