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From the beginning of social thinking, social class has been used as an explanatory factor for social phenomena in both the Marxist & Weberian traditions. However, many sociologists have pointed out that during the second half of the 20th century & especially at the beginning of the 1990s the usefulness of social classes in explaining social phenomena is declining. This article presents three recent debates on class analysis. The debates outline two opposing arguments. The first position accepts the "death of class" argument & conceptualizes contemporary socio-economic inequalities in terms of a status-based society. The second position rejects the "death of class" argument & conceptualizes contemporary socio-economic inequalities in terms of a new language of class. The question remains as to which of these arguments will be more persuasive for sociology in the next decade. 1 Figure, 55 References. Adapted from the source document.

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.

The paper deals with the phenomenon of globalization. The author finds globalization highly questionable concept because there is deep disunity about its definition among the authors. In the first part of the paper different concepts of globalization are summed up. According to authors view there are two main approaches towards globalization -- the first considers it as (more or less lasting) integration & the second as a completely new contemporary process. The author regards globalization as a long lasting integration. But he finds that the present integration has a few specifics that are analyzed in the following part of the paper. In the consequent subchapters the author deals with two more topics -- the pros & cons of globalization & the durability of the process. The main conclusion of the paper is that globalization is a process that has been allowed by the governments by withdrawing from certain areas & thus releasing creative forces in the world markets. The process can be again (anytime) interrupted by the governments but it would bring serious consequences for the functioning of the world economy. Adapted from the source document.

This paper deals with the psychoanalytical conception of aggressivity, destruction & war in relation to the contemporary context of the globalization process. The destructive tendencies are interpreted with the help of the psychoanalytical theory of the paranoid-schizoid position. The paper plays off Patocka's "heretic" conception of war as something meaningful & meaning-giving against the Freudian conception of war as one of several ways in which the death drive may be externalized. It examines the possibilities of Freudian determinism & instinctivism to handle human destructivity. It suggests that something like a "destructive revolution," which would be analogous to the 20th century sexual revolution, is needed in order to reduce the contemporary international tension. Adapted from the source document.

As a result of stability in the field of international relations & the absence of acute security threats in many countries & regions of the world (this applies to the EU as well), & as a consequence of the influence of globalization in particular, the importance of the economic dimension of foreign policy is more accentuated at the beginning of the 21st century. Therefore, commercial diplomacy is more important as well, & at the same time, the character of its functions changes, which is the main object of research in this study. In the first part, a brief historical survey of functions of commercial diplomacy, from their very beginnings to their present shape, is drafted. In the second chapter, the term commercial diplomacy is defined, & related terms are described as well. In the third part, the following basic functions of commercial diplomacy (as implemented in contemporary practice) are analyzed: trade promotion & development, investment promotion, economic-information functions, political-legislative functions, development aid assistance & state promotion. The fourth part of this work is focused on the issue of transnational companies (TNCs), whose number rose dramatically in the last few decades, & at present, this subject is considered to be one of the most important factors influencing the character of commercial diplomacy both currently & in the future. The author concludes that commercial diplomacy will be focused particularly on small & medium sized enterprises in the future. At the same time, the complexity of functions of commercial diplomacy will rise, particularly as a result of a diffusion of the economic & political dimensions of foreign policy. Adapted from the source document.

The article discusses the definition & typology of anti-system parties. It is based on the classical definition by Giovanni Sartori, which is in my opinion not obsolete. On the contrary it is still very usable, but under the condition that we stay on the ground of party theory & party systems, & not transfer it to the field of democratic theory. The next part of the text focuses on Giovanni Capoccia's attempt in 2002 to modify Sartori's theory & create a new typology of anti-system parties is very interesting but not very progressive. It seems that Capoccia makes the same, or at least very similar, propositions as Sartori. I think we should call "anti-system" only those parties which conform to Sartori's rigorous definition. The parties conforming to Sartori's wide definition should not be named "anti-system" but rather "extreme." So, we have two separate categories of opposition parties: 1) anti-system, & 2) extreme. The first one is ideological opposition against the political system. The second is simply extreme, radical opposition against the government, or at the most, against some part of the political system, but not against the system as a whole. The second main proposition of the article concerns the problem of a typology of anti-system parties. According to the view mentioned above & based on Capoccia's typology, I have created a modified typology. It correlates two parameters, ideological & relational. The result is five types of parties: anti-system parties, extreme parties, irrelevant anti-system parties, camouflaged anti-system parties, & pro-system parties. Adapted from the source document.

Clearly visible changes of forms, symbolism and patterns of transnational collective mobilization and political protest have taken place roughly over the course of the last decade. The aim of this article is to introduce an actor that represents these changes (and one of the key non-state collective actors of the present) -- the Global Justice Movement (GJM) -- through mapping the major related debates. Basically, two principal axes of both academic and political discourse on GJM are distinguished: first, there are the debates on the static or lasting attributes of the movement, and second, there are those on the dynamics and processional character of the movement. This text focuses on a dynamic approach to the study of collective action and strives to incorporate fundamental analytical and political arguments in their respective fields of study. Adapted from the source document.