Suchergebnisse

This paper is aimed at analysing the impact of the crisis of the liberal international order on the transatlantic relations. Both the EU and the US have vital interest to maintain the existing international order, however regarding certain foreign policy goals we witness an increasingly divergent approach to world politics. This is the case with the Middle East, where the EU acts as a global player based on historical ties, while the United States have recently started a gradual disengagement from the region. The so-called post-American Middle East have its own opportunities as well as challenges for the European diplomacy. This article focuses on the differences between the EU and the US foreign policy goals related to the Middle East. It primarily addresses the Iranian nuclear program and the Middle East Peace Plan recently launched by the US. The author argues despite some differences in interests, the EU and the US do not perceive the region in an entirely different way.

The study presents in brief the life of Imre Mikó, lawyer, author of several significant works of legal literature in the field of minority rights in inter-war Transylvania, who was also, briefly, a member of the Hungarian Parliament. The life and activity of Imre Mikó may be divided into two major periods. Before the Second World War, as a student of law and theology, and later as a minority rights advocate he distinguished himself with a wide array of interests, both in the field of law and politics. He was appointed to the minority protection service of the Hungarian Community in this period. His activity was interrupted by the advent of World War Two. During the war, he fell into captivity, and, after his release from the Soviet Union, he attempted to resume his political and advocacy carrier only to be side-lined, spending almost two decades in the menial occupation of bookshop clerk. His belated and partial rehabilitation following his appointment as chief curator of the Unitarian Church is described in the study. The study also makes mention of the newly discovered information regarding the fact that Imre Mikó, under significant duress, collaborated with the Securitate, while at the same time he was himself under surveillance.

One of the most important diplomatic debates of the 1990s evolved around the eastern enlargement of the NATO. In the early years of the foreign policy of the Middle-Eastern countries by now free from soviet influence one major issue was to adapt themselves to the post-cold war world order. All of the countries involved – the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary in the first round – soon realized that their only option was to get integrated into the western organizations, to NATO in particular. The leading politicians of this organization had their doubts about these countries' capability to adapt to the already developed system of the organization. This is mainly illustrated by the fact that until the middle of the decade there was a lack of real commitment to the enlargement of the alliance. The PfP document of January 1994 may be regarded as a breakthrough. The diplomacy of Moscow became more and more dismissive as to the idea of the eastern enlargement of the NATO. Within a few months an attitude that regarded Russia joining the NATO as a possible perspective gave way to the total rejection of the enlargement. This study aims at exploring the determining points of this debate mainly in the light of the most important documents. ; One of the most important diplomatic debates of the 1990s evolved around the eastern enlargement of the NATO. In the early years of the foreign policy of the Middle-Eastern countries by now free from soviet influence one major issue was to adapt themselves to the post-cold war world order. All of the countries involved – the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary in the first round – soon realized that their only option was to get integrated into the western organizations, to NATO in particular. The leading politicians of this organization had their doubts about these countries' capability to adapt to the already developed system of the organization. This is mainly illustrated by the fact that until the middle of the decade there was a lack of real commitment to the enlargement of the alliance. The PfP document of January 1994 may be regarded as a breakthrough. The diplomacy of Moscow became more and more dismissive as to the idea of the eastern enlargement of the NATO. Within a few months an attitude that regarded Russia joining the NATO as a possible perspective gave way to the total rejection of the enlargement. This study aims at exploring the determining points of this debate mainly in the light of the most important documents.

As a starting point, the study underlines that one cannot speak about a homogenous Slovak nation and politics in the middle of the 19th century; therefore, it gives an overview of the plebeian-middle-class movement, of its system of values, programme, and documents in 1848—1849, 1861, and in the period of the Compromise negotiations. Afterwards, it presents the nobility of Upper Hungary, with a Slovak mother tongue and ethnic feeling, who, according to its identity in the framework of the states, has belonged to the feudal Natio Hungarica. As the narrower focus of the study, the author takes the Slovak perspective and summarizes the ethnic dimensions of the activity of parliaments in 1861 and from 1865 on. The Slovak national movement could not send its own deputy, the interests of the Slavs of northern Hungary thus being represented by Adolf Dobriansky, born as a Ruthenian; however, the Nationalities Law, Art. 1868: XLIV. could be codified rather due to the mentioned Slovak-speaking nobility, standing behind the party of Ferenc Deák. Finally, we are provided a picture of the rival programmes of different newspapers that divided the Slovak public opinion, and in connection with the law we can read about their first reactions and experiences.

Ukraine's division today is mostly a consequence of its peripheral status: throughout the course of history the Ukrainians should (have) achieve(d) independence and the establishment of a sovereign state in the political vacuum that developed due to the rivalry of the neighboring great powers. In the East-European region Ukraine did have a state several times for a short period and in a much debated way, but it only gained complete sovereignity in 1991, while Russia had considered Ukraine, which "voluntarily joined" the empire in 1654, part of the Russian state. What has also contributed to Ukraine's division and the belated establishment of a state was that it did not have a unified national identity: in East- and Central Ukraine, which were continuously under Russian rule from the middle of the 17th century, a strong national movement could never develop. Then, following the partition of Poland, when West-Ukraine – with the exception of Galicia – became part of Russia, most of the Ukrainian territories belonged to – but did not comprise – one state. In Galicia, which was the western border of the eastern Slavic territories and was under the considerably liberal rule of Austria, and was called "the Ukrainian Piedmont", a stronger national self-consciousness developed after 1772. That is why it was there that the idea of a unified Ukrainian state was conceived first, the realization of which, however, took more than a hundred years, because of the division and weak national consciousness of the Ukrainians.