Suchergebnisse

This article presents a discussion of the essence of moral, political theology, one which is specifically related to the political life and the public attitude with which Croatia would like to enter the European Union and make itself more present in the world. It is a theology which strives to actively contribute to the process of the humanisation of society. Theology, as an attitude of critical reasoning, plays a fundamental role in the process of the liberation of man and the strengthening of the Christian community by helping to liberate them from all types of fetishes and idolatry. At the same time, it helps avoid the kind of fatal narcissism which impoverishes human relationships. Understood in this way, every kind of theology, and especially political theology, has a permanent and necessary role to play in the process of liberation from all forms of religious alienation. This alienation is generally something which the ecclesiastical institutions themselves produce when they obstruct or hinder the Word of God being approached in an authentic way. Adapted from the source document.

Using the example of Vojvodina, the author looks into the connection between the "socialist ideology" & the anti-Western orientation. The survey, conducted in Subotica, focuses on the influence of ethnic origin, education, migratory history, & the participation of a respondent's family in the Partisan resistance movement on the latent configuration of certain political orientations (subdimension of "socialist ideology") & the anti-Western orientation. The author claims there are four relatively independent latent dimensions of "socialist ideology": (1) Yugo-nostalgia, (2) Collectivist/statist orientation, (3) Militarist/statist orientation, & (4) Egalitarianism. The study has shown that, basically, the anti-Western orientation is one of the components of the socialist ideological pattern. The "militarist anti-Western orientation" is demonstrated by the Serbs who moved to Subotica between WWI & the recent war on the territory of the former SFR Yugoslavia. Apart from these Serbs -- & unlike the other ethnic groups -- this "militarist anti-Western orientation" is also noticeable in a fraction of Croats from Backa (Bunjevci) who have stated as their nationality "only" -- Bunjevci (Backa Croats). Besides, the study has shown that lower social classes harbor a kind of "socialist anti-Western orientation." The anti-Western orientation, which the author labels as the "Yugo-nostalgic anti-Western orientation," is held by those respondents whose relatives were involved in the Partisan movement. 15 Tables, 19 References. Adapted from the source document.

The geopolitical evolution represents a permanent process. It is mostly influenced by the geopolitical condition, in which the geopolitical relations and processes are evolving. The understanding of geopolitical evolution is impossible without the critical review and even rejection of the dominant geopolitical visions. There are various theoretical perspectives that reject the dominant geopolitical visions and discourses as well as geopolitical practices of the political elites. Those theoretical perspectives are known as: critical geopolitics, anti-geopolitics, subaltern geopolitics, feminist geopolitics, radical geopolitics. There are also various comprehensions of relationship between these theoretical perspectives, although it is clear that each of them is overlapped with others, and all of them are overlapped with critical geopolitics, differing in the focus of study and the identification of new moments, and at the same time being similar by their deflection from the dominant geopolitical vision and practices, to which they react in different ways: by criticizing, by putting resistance or offering alternatives. In this paper, the research focus is mostly on anti-geopolitics, a radical geopolitical vision that puts into question the relations of exploitation and dominance. Anti-geopolitics also represents a theoretical perspective that poses the most serious challenge to the dominant ways of representing the World. The proponents of anti-geopolitics focus their research on the anti-colonial and anti-imperialist struggles, as well as on the social movements and networks that offer a resistance to globalization and geo-economic logic that are advocated and practiced by the political-economic elites of states and multinational corporations and intergovernmental institutions, especially the financial ones. The paper also brings a brief review of the key aspects of other theoretical perspectives that represent a more or less radical deflection from the dominant geopolitical visions. Adapted from the source document.

The article considers the significance of the commitment of the state & its factors & forces in preventing the perpetrators of terrorism to manifest themselves in a violent way. The author takes as a starting point the fact that terrorist collectivities make great efforts to take their primary victim (state) by surprise. The response of the state should result in the efficient protection from this danger. The author considers subjective & objective limitations the anti-terrorist forces of the state are facing in the protection of the state from the terrorist surprise. This, among other things, results in porosity of the anti-terrorist prevention in some of its aspects. The volume & character of possible detrimental effects on the security of the state for the occasional porosity of the anti-terrorist prevention is treated within a separate chapter. Figures, References. Adapted from the source document.

The author criticizes those Euro-sceptics who still treat the European Union as an open project that requires major decisions on the road to its fruition, as if the Union had not relinquished the model of the classical nation-state a long time ago. The author also promotes a reinterpretation of those aspects of European history that have given rise or might give rise to anti-European sentiments. Adapted from the source document.

The aim of this article is to describe the distribution of social conservatism in the Serbian population & the association of its latent dimensions with sociodemographic characteristics & party preferences. The research was carried out using the sample of 1,172 full aged participants from the territory of Republic of Serbia (without Kosovo & Metohia). Internal reliability of the measure of social conservatism (Cronbach alfa=0.89) allows for the standardization of the scale. About one third of the examinees express a high degree of social conservatism. A factor analysis yields five latent dimensions explaining 67.59% of the variance. The factors were labeled authoritarianism, anti-European sentiment, collectivism, traditionalism, & patriarchal syndrome. Statistically significant but low correlations were found among age & education & dimensions of conservatism. Results of canonical discriminative analysis prove a significant influence of social conservatism & could interpret about 41% of the total variance of party preferences. Discriminative functions derived on the basis of party preferences show the existence of the three latent political options among the Serbian voters. The first option is labeled the radical-conservative, characterized by anti-European sentiment & authoritarian tendencies. The second is labeled the democratic-liberal that makes the opposite pole of the first option. The third is labeled the traditionalistic option accompanied by pro-European orientation. Tables, Figures, References. Adapted from the source document.

The concept of "bureaucracy" covered the field of negative stances in postrevolutionary Yugoslavia. Its fuzziness allowed different, though ostensibly all anti-Stalinist, interpretations by the Party-State discourse (mainly Kardelj and Bakaric) vs. the discourse of the "loyal opposition" (Branko Horvat and the Praxis group). The first group wanted to dismantle State centralization but insisted there was no ruling class. The second group could not, for various reasons, insist on a ruling class but discussed its power and effect. The term "bureaucracy" grew from a useful start of public discussion finally into sterile talmudism. But it's very limits indicate a crucial, though absent, concept and state of power. Adapted from the source document.

The concept of "bureaucracy" covered the field of negative stances in post-revolutionary Yugoslavia. Its fuzziness allowed different, though ostensibly all anti-Stalinist, interpretations by the Party-State discourse (mainly Kardelj and Bakaric) vs. the discourse of the "loyal opposition" (Branko Horvat and the Praxis group). The first group wanted to dismantle State centralization but insisted there was no ruling class. The second group could not, for various reasons, insist on a ruling class but discussed its power and effect. The term "bureaucracy" grew from a useful start of public discussion finally into sterile talmudism. But its very limits indicate a crucial, though absent, concept and state of power. Adapted from the source document.

The author analyzes the Polish 2003 EU membership referendum. In the first part of the paper she looks into the factors which influenced the evolution of individual political actors in the course of the European debate in Poland. Due to the increasing interest in the significance of the EU-related issues for the consolidation of the political system in Poland, the first part of the paper focuses on the EU-membership debate & on the role of the political elite & the public support. In the second part the author analyzes the role of the referendum in that debate & its impact on the political actors' strategy. The author analyzes the mobilization of the pro-European & the anti-European camp. Tables, Graphs, References. Adapted from the source document.

The first part of the paper describes the internal incoherencies of the International Monetary Fund and its consistent ignoring of empirical evidence. The second part offers possible explanations for this nonchalance. A Kuhnian perspective can explain it in terms of anomaly accumulation necessary for a paradigm shift. Richard Peets' explanation forwards a joining of Foucaults' concept of dominant discourse with a Gramscian hegemony. Alternatively, ignoring of evidence by the IMF may well be interpreted as part of a neo-imperialist ploy directed at exploitation of developing countries. Finally, a concept of anti-utilitarian nature of absolutely implemented ideology derived from the writings of Hannah Arendt can explain the functioning of IMF beyond the bounds of purpose. Taking into account these explanations, the possibilities of change of harmful behavior for an institution such as IMF are suggested. Adapted from the source document.

The author presents Petitt's reaction to the central dichotomy that ensues from MacIntyre's thinking about politics on the borderline between the liberal thought (as the continuation of the Enlightenment) & the communitarian thought (Aristotelianism-inspired but characteristic of the anti-enlightenment, romantic tradition). Petitt considers that dichotomy mystifying, since it conceals other interesting alternatives, such as pre-liberal, republican political thought. He tries to prove the republican tradition worthy of serious consideration & claims that it can be evolved into a truly appealing political stance. The author concisely describes liberalism & communitarianism as seen by MacIntyre & Petitt. Then he goes on to describe republicanism, as seen by Petitt. And finally, the author lists critical objections to Petitt's description of republicanism due to which that political alternative does not seem as attractive as Petitt claims. Adapted from the source document.

The article takes a comparative perspective to review the background to campaign for & result of the Slovenian ED-accession referendum. The authors describe the ED's accession referendum campaign in Slovenia as a 'cat-&-mouse game' since the 'yes' campaign was outstandingly well organized & synchronized in stark contrast to the 'no' campaign which was poorly organized & came across as the representative of a narrow set of interests. Irrespective of this, the large victory (almost 90 percent) of the 'yes' camp was unexpected as was the relatively low turnout (60,4 percent). Two of the most important reasons for this high support shown at the ED accession referendum can be traced to a broad consensus among political, social & economic elites & the reorientation of the most exposed & well-known anti-ED actors towards the NATO accession referendum that was held simultaneously. Thereby, the article also partially examines the Slovenian NATO-accession referendum but only to the extent that it influenced the campaign & result of the ED referendum. Tables, Figures, References. Adapted from the source document.

The article takes a comparative perspective to review the background to campaign for & result of the Slovenian ED-accession referendum. The authors describe the ED's accession referendum campaign in Slovenia as a 'cat-&-mouse game' since the 'yes' campaign was outstandingly well organized & synchronized in stark contrast to the 'no' campaign which was poorly organized & came across as the representative of a narrow set of interests. Irrespective of this, the large victory (almost 90 percent) of the 'yes' camp was unexpected as was the relatively low turnout (60,4 percent). Two of the most important reasons for this high support shown at the ED accession referendum can be traced to a broad consensus among political, social & economic elites & the reorientation of the most exposed & well-known anti-ED actors towards the NATO accession referendum that was held simultaneously. Thereby, the article also partially examines the Slovenian NATO-accession referendum but only to the extent that it influenced the campaign & result of the ED referendum. Tables, Figures, References. Adapted from the source document.

The author compares two political parties, one from Eastern/Central Europe, and the other from Western Europe - Hungarian Jobbik and Dutch Party for Freedom of Geert Wilders - to portray some of the similarities, as well as the differences, between radical right parties in Western and Eastern European countries. The article is divided into three parts. In the first part, the author presents the contemporary radical right. Contemporary radical right, in comparison to the interwar radical right, is not necessary anti-systemic, but mainly ultra-nationalistic, xenophobic and homophobic. Although the term radical right describes one party family, this party family has significant internal differences. Therefore, there are many definitions, which are trying to grasp this political phenomenon. The second part of the article analyses the Hungarian Jobbik. The author concludes that Jobbik satisfies all the characteristics of the radical right, and therefore represents a truly radical right party. The third part of the article is devoted to the Dutch Party for Freedom. The author concludes that this party can also be regarded as a radical right party. Adapted from the source document.