Suchergebnisse

It is clear from political science literature that political parties are not static entities. Similar to other political institutions, they tend to transform with time, in response to changes in their surrounding environment. If the economic, social, cultural and political parameters in society are to substantially change, it is possible to deduce a change in the role of a political party and its organisational structure. The transition from totalitarian to democratic societies in Central, and partially in Eastern Europe, presents a process so unique that one may legitimately question if this has not resulted in a serious modification of the catch-all party type. In the region of Central Europe, Czechoslovakia - and after 1993 the Czech Republic - presents a special case, where during political and economic transformation next to general features, specific factors were also enforced, which eventually influenced the set-up and formation of parties in their early stages. It is left to consideration and further scrutiny to decide whether the unrepeatable environment of the Czech-Moravian melting pot, has not cultivated the clientelistic form of political party. Adapted from the source document.

The paper analyzes the far right People's Party Our Slovakia (LSNS) in 2006, 2010 and 2012 Slovak parliamentary elections. The main questions that the paper seeks to answer are 1) whether and how has the party changed its main themes during the periods before elections, 2) what the party's position toward the Roma minority has been, and 3) how the thematic adaptation has affected electoral results of the party. The paper analyzes the changing position of the party toward the Roma minority in the context of three electoral periods and it links the party's electoral results with the occurrence of so-called Roma settlements in the areas, where the party gained a significant share of the vote. We found that during the 2006 elections the party mostly emphasized the need for the renaissance of the (Slovak) nation and the reflection of its roots and national historical figures. In both the 2010 and 2012 elections the party for the most part sharply criticized the Roma minority and the mainstream political parties. We argue that this change was reflected in the party's electoral gain. Since 2010 the party has changed its focus to an active campaign against Roma and electoral results of the party have improved. In 2006 LSNS gained the most votes in areas where the local appeal of its leaders emphasizing the nationalistic themes was the largest and in both 2010 and 2012 the party gained the most votes in regions with the highest occurrence of Roma settlements. We also identified all four features that according to Mudde (2000) characterize far right parties in the electoral themes emphasized by LSNS. Adapted from the source document.

The Chechnya conflict itself broke out yet during the existence of the USSR - in September 1991. On 11 October 1992. Dudayev announced the state of emergency as a reaction to the mobilization of Russian military forces at the borders with Chechnya. The Russian troops left their positions at the Chechen borders only on 18 November 1992. ... In one year after the outbreak of the war, Moscow's policy on Chechnya (1995) returned to the beginning the necessity. to solve the Chechen prob1em by "Chechen hands" and not by military force. It became the central topic of the election campaign before the elections to the State Duma which took place on 17 December 1995. ... From a short-term point of view, it would be possible to speak about the consequences on the presidential elections in 1996, from a broader point of view it is about the permanent presence of official violence in the Soviet-Russian history of the 20th century which forms the basis of a specific "Russian way". This factor has always influenced the contents, the orientation and the result of all processes (economic, social, spiritual, ethical etc.) that is confirmed by the political events in Russia not only in 1995 but mainly from 1985 up to today. (SOI : MO: S. 79f.)

Eritrea becoming independent, with the consent of Ethiopia, was considered a unique event on a continent that has experienced so many wars about the right to self-rule. However there are elements in Ethiopia's political mosaic that can never accept Eritrea independence. ... From the historical point of view there should be no doubt that the territory of today's Eritrea was a part of Ethiopians' kingdoms. However for more than 60 years since 1890 Eritrea was under the foreign rule. Eritrea was federated to Ethiopia in 1952, but when in 1962 the federation was dissolved and the province was annexed by Haile Selassie, guerrilla war broke out and continued also during the dictatorship of M. H. Mariam (1974-1991). ... He two countries are among the poorest in Africa, but both Ethiopia and Eritrea are reportedly engaged in buying as much arms as their poor economies can afford from countries such as Russian Federation, China, Bulgaria, and the Ukraine. ... Both countries have close military relationships with the United States and Israel who have a strategic interest in keeping them as stable allies close to the Arabian peninsula and bordering Sudan. ... The International community calls for an end to the border war between Ethiopia and Eritrea. The United Nations, the European Union, African leaders and U.S. government have aIl pleaded for restraint and immediate stop of military confrontation. ... In reality, neither side seems interested abandoning the military option for resolving the border issue. (SOI : MO: S. 46-48)