Suchergebnisse

Although many institutions were involved in the cultural diplomacy of the Romanian communist regime, a very consistent part of the artistic exchanges with the East and the West were mediated by the Union of Artists. This paper would like to highlight the important role the Union played in framing the artistic exchanges with several "capitalist countries" and "popular democracies", by looking at several agreements of collaboration between Unions or similar institutions. More precisely, we will look at the variations regarding the form and the quantity of exchanges that were established through such official documents and which referred mainly to exchanges of persons, informations or exhibitions. We will also look at the way these were organized in practice: the study of the travel reports, informative notes or daily programs that were produced on such occasions shows that these exchanges were systematically surveilled and politically motivated. A preliminary analysis of these allows us to observe the Union's interests regarding the East and the West and suggests that the Romanian Union of Artists contributed to the expansion, the regulation and at the same time the control of the cultural contacts with foreign countries.

This article tests if the democratization process in Central and Eastern Europe
coincides with a decrease in number of invalid votes. Using descriptive
statistics, we seek for evidence from 67 elections in ten countries from the
regions during the period 1990-2012. By the beginning of the 2000s, ten years
after the breakdown of communist regime, the percentages of invalid votes
in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe reached levels comparable to
those of the Western European democracies. However, significant differences
between regions and countries endure. This article adds to the literature by
being the first to inquire into the subject of invalid votes in the Central and
Eastern Europe.

The positive, unifying ideological resources of liberal and progressive Islamic interpretations deserve more than ever to be exploited in the contemporary socio-political context. Their conceptual tools, principles and theses could solve the conflictual cleavage, politically manipulated, between Islam and Western modernity, without repudiating the references to an Islamic paradigm. Therefore, liberal and progressive Islamic understandings could avoid the recent superficial oscillation between two ideological -artificially constructed- extremes, namely either confining the discussions to the secular, colonialist or postcolonialist perspectives, or promoting the defensive opportunist neotraditionalist Islamic approaches, specific to the nationalist movements of the last century so-called Islamic revival. Liberal Islam does not fully adopt all liberal theses and does not obediently imitate Western philosophy. Liberal Islamic understandings are defined by the opposition against teocracy and by supporting the democracy. Women, minorities and non-Muslims' rights in Muslim-majority countries, freedom of thought and trust in human progress, are other essential tenets that are fundamented on contemporary understandings of the major Islamic sources. Trying to correct some excesses that the liberal Muslims were accused of, but maintaining the reformist tendencies, progressive Muslims' approach is centered on a "multiple critiqueˮ ‒ a simultaneous critique of the diverse discourses and communities in which Muslims are situated. Not only the authoritarian constructions of literalist, puritanist Muslims, the violation of human rights, freedom of expression and of religion, the oppression of women in some Muslim countries are condemned and deconstructed, but also some political, economic, intellectual hegemonic Western aspects of modernity. In Romania these contemporary tendencies of interpreting Islam are not yet represented at a community level.

Transitional Justice in the Arab World and its Effects in the Light of the "Arab Spring" Launched in 2011 The events that took place in early 2011, known as the "Arab Spring", sparked several discussions in relation to regions that were considered closed to the democratic values promoted by Western states. Chain revolutions have primarily addressed a key issue, that of transitional justice, thus trying to bring truth and reconciliation to societies where for decades terror, totalitarianism, serious human rights violations, political repression have reigned, including those committed by police and security organs. Unfortunately, we must note that the lack of traditions in this regard has not allowed the realizations of tasks put before the transitional judiciary in these countries, although, we must admit, some successes have been achieved. Evenimentele ce au avut loc la începutul anului 2011, cunoscute sub termenul de "primăvara arabă" au trezit mai multe discuţii în raport cu regiuni care erau considerate închise pentru valorile democratice promovate de statele occidentale. Revoluţii în lanţ au abordat în primul rând un subiect cheie, cel al justiţiei tranziţionale, astfel încercând să aducă adevărul și reconcilierea în societăţile în care timp de decenii au domnit teroarea, totalitarismul, încălcări grave ale drepturilor omului, represiuni politice și din partea organelor de poliţie și de securitate. Cu regret, trebuie să constatăm faptul, că lipsa unor tradiţii în acest sens, nu a permis realizarea sarcinilor puse în faţa justiţiei tranziţionale în aceste ţări, deși, totuși, trebuie să recunoaștem, anumite succese au fost atinse.