Suchergebnisse

The role of national identity in democratization in Estonia is examined. The conventional belief that nationalism is a threat to democracy is not evident in analysis of post-WWII Estonian history. During its Soviet period, Estonia was fully integrated into the Soviet political system &, excluding culture, feelings of national identity had been destroyed. In the 1980s, Mikhail Gorbachev's encouragement of citizen initiatives & opposition to oppression resulted in a national awakening, mobilization of Estonian identity, & movement toward the creation of an Estonian society within the Soviet system. With the disintegration of the USSR, the Estonian movement toward national identity evolved into a quest for statehood & democratic self-rule. An outline of a modern Estonian identity is explored. D. Generoli

The processes of democratization being experienced in Eastern European & Third World countries are not uniform, but rather, are shaped by the type of system from which they have evolved. The options available to leaders of the newly democratized regimes break down roughly into accepting the existing civil service as loyal to the regime, or forcing civil servants out of office. On their part, the civil service can either accept or resist the new regime. The strategies adopted by each group & each group's assessment of the other's strategies determine the degree of success. An analytical model is presented for understanding such group interactions. 3 Figures, 30 References. Adapted from the source document.

THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY, THE UNITED STATES, AND THE UNITED NATIONS HAVE CONTRIBUTED MIGHTILY TO THE DEATH OF YUGOSLAVIA AND BOSNIA. TO BE SURE, THE BREAKUP OF YUGOSLAVIA AND THE WARS THAT FOLLOWED WERE PROBABLY INEVITABLE; HOWEVER, EVEN IN 1991 THE WORLD COMMUNITY STILL COULD HAVE PUT ITS WEIGHT BEHIND THE NUMEROUS ANTI-MILOSEVIC FORCES IN YUGOSLAVIA AND PUSHED FOR DECENTRALIZATION AND DEMOCRATIZATION. BECAUSE THE WORLD COMMUNITY FAILED TO DO THIS THE PROSPECTS FOR BOSNIA AND YUGOSLAVIA TODAY ARE MUCH WORSE THAN THEY WERE TWO YEARS AGO. THOUGH IT IS NOW PROBABLY TOO LATE TO RESTORE A CIVIC BOSNIAN STATE, THE WORLD MUST TRY TO SAVE THE BOSNIANS.

Die Memorial-Gesellschaft gehört zu den wichtigsten Organisationen der Perestroika-Periode. Geführt von einer intellektuellen Elite stellte sie die erste bedeutende Herausforderung der KPdSU dar, wurde zur Wiege einer Reihe politischer Parteien und war ein Karrieresprungbrett für führende Politiker der kommenden Jahre. Die vorliegende Untersuchung, deren empirische Basis eine Auswahl von 18 Memorial-Organisationen außerhalb der Zentren Moskau und Leningrad ist, gibt einen Einblick in die Entwicklungsdynamik sozialer Bewegungen in der Ära Gorbatschow. Im Anschluß an einen Überblick über die Entwicklung von Memorial in Moskau und Leningrad stellt die Verfasserin die Entstehung von Memorial-Gruppen in der Provinz, ihre Größe und soziale Zusammensetzung sowie die politischen Einstellungen ihrer Mitglieder dar. Sie beschreibt die Arbeit von Memorial zur Rehabilitierung ehemaliger Häftlinge und zur Entlarvung des stalinistischen Terrorregimes. Darüberhinaus wird das direkte politische Engagement von Memorial beim Aufbau informeller politischer Bewegungen 1988 bis 1989 sowie in der Zusammenarbeit mit nichtkommunistischen Gruppen und der Beteiligung an Wahlen 1989 bis 1991 behandelt. Abschließend wird nach der Reaktion des örtlichen Establishments auf die Aktivitäten von Memorial gefragt. (BIOst-Wpt)

In a report released on September 16, 1993, Amnesty International came up with an apt description of the current human rights situation in Zaire as consisting of "violence against democracy." In a violent backlash against the democratization process, the regime of President Mobutu Sese Seko has plunged the country into "its worst human rights crisis since the end of the civil war in the early 1960s." More than 5,000 people have been killed and more than 100,000 displaced in ethnic cleansing in the Shaba and North Kivu provinces. Moreover, repeated looting, extortion, and other acts of violence by Mobutu's army have endangered the lives of millions of people all over the country, particularly in the major cities.

Grassroots AIDS groups create, disseminate, and interpret knowledge. Their success in these new roles shows that traditional, top-down dissemination theories are inadequate; the debate over marginal innovation has defined marginality too simplistically; and the scientific journal is not the only source of scientific information. These circumstances—combined with what is known about "boundary work" by mainstream scientists—indicate that, despite problms, AIDS grassroots knowledge production challenges traditional definitions and boundaries of scientific work and offers a gateway to wider democratization of science. Using a resource mobilization approach, the authors assess whether the grassroots' AIDS knowledge production model applies in other public policy issues, such as toxic exposure and women's health resarch .

Three events characterize the development of the European Community in 1992 & 1993: the completion of a unified European market, the signing of the European Union Contract, & the establishment of a European economic space with EFTA countries. One of the main hindrances is the fact that the decisions taken are being implemented in different ways from one member state to another, which creates difficulties in the accomplishment of the European Community's aims. These can be classified into three basic groups: the development of an economic & monetary union, the strengthening of institutions & the democratization of the European Community, & the defining of a common foreign security policy. Adapted from the source document.

IN MID-1991 THE LONG CONFLICT BETWEEN ERITREA AND ETHIOPIA CAME TO A CLOSE WHEN THE ERITREAN PEOPLE'S LIBERATION FRONT ENTERED AND LIBERATED THE CAPITAL OF ASMARA. NEXT, THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT OF ERITREA (PGE) WAS FORMED, ITS STRUCTURE INCLUDED LEGISLATIVE, EXECUTIVE AND JUDICIAL BODIES. FROM ITS INCEPTION, THE PGE FOLLOWED A POLICY OF DECENTRALIZATION GEARED TOWARD FOSTERING BALANCED DEVELOPMENT, ENCOURAGING LOCAL INITIATIVE, AND REDRESSING PAST IMBALANCES. DECENTRALIZATION IS SEEN AS A CRUCIAL PILLAR OF THE DEMOCRATIZATION PROCESS. IN SHARP CONTRAST TO OTHER DEVELOPING COUNTRIES THAT MUST MAINTAIN AND REFORM AN EXISTING GOVERNMENT, ERITREANS, AS CITIZENS OF A NEWLY INDEPENDENT STATE, ARE CHALLENGED TO CREATE NEW AND APPROPRIATE MECHANISMS ENTIRELY FROM SCRATCH.

IN 1991, MORE THAN A DECADE AFTER ITS LAST MAJOR REFORM, THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS ONCE AGAIN TURNED ITS ATTENTION TO ITS INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENTS. THE 1970S REFORMS HAD BEEN HAILED AS USHERING IN A NEW ERA OF CONGRESSIONAL ASSERTION AND COMPETENCE, BUT BY THE 1990S WERE SEEN AS HAVING MADE MINIMAL IMPROVEMENT IN SOME AREAS WHILE FAILING UTTERLY IN OTHERS. MUCH ATTENTION HAS BEEN GIVEN TO THE CONSEQUENCES OF REFORM, BUT LITTLE TO THE INTELLECTUAL SEEKS TO REMEDY THIS BY EXPLORING THE THEORETICAL UNDERPINNINGS OF THE 1946 AND MID-1970S REFORMS. THE AUTHOR ARGUES THAT TWO STREAMS OF THOUGHT INFORM THESE EFFORTS, ONE CENTERED IN RATIONALITY AND EFFICIENCY, THE OTHER IN DEMOCRATIZATION.

THE ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN STATES (OAS) HAS PLAYED A KEY ROLE IN THE TREND TOWARDS DEMOCRATIZATION IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE. THE ORGANIZATION'S ADOPTION OF A "COMMITMENT TO DEMOCRACY AND THE RENEWAL OF THE INTER-AMERICAN SYSTEM" IN 1991 IS BUT THE MOST RECENT EXPRESSION OF A LONGSTANDING MOVEMENT TOWARD THE FORMAL AND COLLECTIVE AFFIRMATION OF DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES, PURPOSES AND MEASURES. THIS COMMITMENT TO DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE IS REFLECTED IN DECLARATIONS, RESOLUTIONS AND ACTIONS THAT REACH BACK SEVERAL DECADES. HOWEVER, WHAT DISTINGUISHES THE MORE RECENT ACTIONS FROM THOSE TAKEN IN THE PAST IS THE FACT THAT THE OAS IS NOW ACCOMPANYING ITS SOLID COMMITMENT TO DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES WITH THE INSTITUTIONAL WHEREWITHAL NECESSARY TO ENSURE THEIR PROTECTION.

THE FORMER COMMUNIST GOVERNMENTS OF EASTERN EUROPE PERPETRATED THE MYTH THAT WORKING CLASS SOLIDARITY HAD OVERCOME ETHNIC AND REGIONAL CONFLICT. THESE GOVERNMENTS HAD A STRONG COMMITMENT TO ECONOMIC EQUALITY AMONG ALL SOCIAL GROUPS AND ALL REGIONS, LEADING TO SUBSTANTIAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS FOR THEIR ECONOMICALLY LESS-DEVELOPED REGIONS. DUE TO EASTERN EUROPE'S DEMOCRATIZATION PROCESS, DEEP-SEATED REGIONAL AND ETHNIC DIFFERENCES HAVE RECENTLY COME INTO THE OPEN AND ARE NOW INFLUENCING THE PROCESS OF ECONOMIC REFORM. THIS PAPER IS A CASE STUDY OF HOW ETHNIC AND REGIONAL DIFFERENCES IMPACT ECONOMIC REFORMS IN PREVIOUSLY COMMUNIST COUNTRIES. SPECIFICALLY, THE AUTHORS EXAMINE THE ECONOMICS OF THE POLITICAL SEPARATION BETWEEN THE CZECH AND SLOVAK FEDERATED REPUBLICS.

After a few reminiscences about Arthur Lewis, several questions on what socialism is not about are raised. Neither public ownership, nor welfare services nor central planning are considered essential to it. The view that the distinction capitalism-socialism is obsolete is briefly discussed. It is argued that many important distinctions cut across the divide. The United States is held up as a socialist country. Changes in the socialist creed in the last century are noted. An alternative window of looking at the private-public sector distinction is discussed. And the essence of socialism as the democratization of political and civil society and private firms is advanced. A final plea for pedantic utopianism is made.

Since 1980, as part of the worldwide trend toward regional economic co-operation, a number of proposals have appeared concerning the economic integration of Taiwan, Hongkong, Macao and the Chinese mainland. The author considers the political implications of these proposals and the political obstacles the creation of such an entity might face. (DÜI-Sen)