The author analyses Arendt's attempt at a rehabilitation of political thinking. He describes the influence of Greek and Roman practical philosophy on Arendt as well as her distancing from Martin Heidegger as a non-political thinker. In the end, the author offers an insight into the failure of the Western metaphysics of the political when confronted with the factuality of a specific political life. (SOI : SOEU: S. 65)
Croatia is the only postcommunist country in which the process of democratic transition coincided with the process of creating the state by means of a war. These three processes are in a special interaction: the transition enabled the realization of the state-building programme, which triggered off the war which, in turn, jeopardized the completion of both projects. The author illustrates the dynamics of the political changes in Croatia since the eighties, which started with the liberalization of political life and continued with two stages of democratic transition, before and after gaining independence. The Serbian insurgence and later an open aggression have somewhat hampered the transition and brought about the "ethnification" of politics. At the end the author analyses the pattern of the creation of democratic institutions which has been, in both stages (before and after the 1990 elections) under the control of the ruling political party. (SOI : PM: S. 99)
After the end of the Cold War, civil defense was transformed into civil protection. This part of the state structure moved from the armed forces to the civilian sector. There are two reasons. First, direct threat of nuclear war was eliminated and the other reason were climate changes caused by natural disasters on a large scale. Today's civilan protection is organized in order to protect life and property in the event of a disaster caused by nature or man. End of the Cold War influenced the transformation of the social system in Poland. This was also reflected in the field of civil protection in this country. In Poland many sectors of civil society are now directly or indirectly involved in the system of civil protection. This was largely contributed by the decentralization of the state system, which allowed greater involvement of different actors in the system of civil protection. Decentralization has enabled a more efficient division of responsibility in case of emergencies. Regardless of the differences in size of territory and population, Poland has gone through similar challenges in transformation of the state and civil protection system like other new states of the European Union. This is especially important if we look other states of the former Warsaw Pact. Beside aforementioned transformation, Poland needed to eliminate communist legacy in many areas of society. This was precondition for stabilization and modernization of the state system. After that, Poland could put more effort in the reform of other areas of political, economic and social organization, which included area of civil protection.
Branimir Altgayer was the most prominent Croatian of German nationality in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, but he was especially so during the period of the Independent State of Croatia. Altgayer was born December 8, 1897 in the town of Przekopane (Galicia), where his father (born in Osijek) served as an Austro-Hungarian cavalry lieutenant. Altgayer spent his childhood in Slavonia, where he was brought up in a Croatian cultural atmosphere. After completing Croatian public school in Kutjevo and Croatian Gymnasium in Osijek and Zemun, he attended an Austro-Hungarian cavalry cadet school in Moravia between 1912 and 1915. He was an officer (ensign) in the Austro-Hungarian army (after 1915) until the end of the first world war, serving on the Russian, Rumanian, and Italian fronts. He was wounded twice and decorated several times. In the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes he was a cavalry captain (first class) of the Royal army. Following four years of service, he resigned. He worked at various civilian occupations for a time, but returned to the military between 1924 and 1927. He was very active in the cultural and political life of the German minority of Osijek and Slavonia. He was selected to the united council of the German minority association, the Kulturbund of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (Schwäbisch-Deutscher Kulturbund), in December 1934. He was a prominent representative of the so-called Renewal movement (Erneuerungsbewegung), a radical current in the Kulturbund. Following a conflict between the old leaders of the Germans in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and the Renewalists which occasioned a split in the Kulturbund, Altgayer and the Renewalists are ejected from the Kulturbund for insubordination. At the beginning of 1936 he established a cultural and charitable organization for Germans of Slavonia in Osijek (Kultur-und Wohlfahrtsvereinigung der Deutschen in Slavonien). In January, 1939, he became a regional leader (Gauobmann) of the Germans in Slavonia (following the re-admittance of the Renewalists to the Kulturbund at the end of 1938). In early 1939, he leaves the Yugoslavian Radical Union, whose city councilor he was in Osijek, and joins the Croatian peasant party. After the creation of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) in 1941, he was named leader of the German National Assembly for the NDH (Volksgruppenführer). From December 1941 he was director of state for the presidency of the NDH, but after January 1943 he was secretary of state for the same, and he was likewise promoted to the rank of reserve colonel in the Ustasha army. He was decorated by Leader of the Ustasha Dr. Ante Pavelic with the title "knight". For a short time in mid-1943 he went to the Eastern Front. At the end of the second world war he was deported to Yugoslavia from Austria by the British. In 1950, the district court of Zagreb sentenced him to death by firing squad. The sentence was carried out May 15, 1950. The investigative material of the Office of State Security (UDB-a) concerning Altgayer, especially the transcript of the trial from 1949, is an excellent source of information about the German minority in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia during the thirties and during the period of the Independent State of Croatia. (SOI : CSP: S. 638)
Newspaper articles about Hungary on the pages of Vjesnik in the period between 1945 and 1950 were relatively numerous, but dealt exclusively with political circumstances and relations. Three basic stereotypes could be seen in the writings about Hungary, and it is indicative that they were formed in a relatively short period of four years and that they were radically opposite to each other. The first one, in the period from the end of the World War Two up to the establishment of complete communist command in Hungary in the Fall of 1947, when the defeated forces and civil political groups were ascribed negative aspects of Hungarian life and relationship with Yugoslavia, with affirmation of all the activities connected with national democratic, communist orientation. The other, in the short period between the Fall of 1947 and Summer of 1948, when the articles about Hungarian themes had solely positive characteristics. The third, after the resolution of Information Bureau of the Cominform in Summer of 1948, when the newspaper pages on Hungary were again full of negative articles, but this time Hungarian communist leadership was blamed for all the negativities. The picture about Hungary which one could get from the newspapers was generally incomplete, oriented primarily to the political events. It obviously depended on political and ideological orientations of Yugoslav ruling communist circles. The information was in the service of achieving exclusively political goals, not to give thorough and complete information to the readers. (SOI : CSP: S. 518)
The analysis has shown that both approaches are legitimate and useful in understanding and maintaining democracy. Of course, the interactional approaches are more complex, as well as more important and more vital for understanding democracy. The analysis has shown how political culture (democratic legitimation or political trust, support for civil freedoms, satisfaction with the functioning of democracy, etc.) often depend on the elements of the very political structure (party systems and coalition models, election patterns, patterns of democracy, positions in power structure, etc.). Political culture is autonomous in relation to political structure, but frequently its role greatly depends on the relations among political actors and the variables of the political culture itself. The analysis has also demonstrated how these investigations into the interaction (combined effects) between political culture and structure are extremely sophisticated and that in the future they are going to become the most fruitful part of political science, making possible not only a deeper understanding of the "dynamic regularities" in the functioning of democracy but also the attempts at its "innovative sustainment" and gradual development. (SOI : PM: S. 131) + The purpose of this essay is to prove the connection among political culture, political structure and democracy. All the arguments pointing to such a connection have been analysed within the framework of two fundamental approaches to the relationship between culture and structure i.e. within the framework of the classical approach to their correspondence (which claims - primarily in line with the functional theory of culture - that there is a functional concordance between culture and structure, that democracy is mirrored by the civic political culture, i.e. that "culture is a structure's way of life", that culture determines the structure) and the contemporary interactional approach (in which - primarily in line with the theory of culture "as meaning" or "social functioning" - complex relations among various cultural variables and structural variables are analysed as well as their combined effect on democracy as the consequence of these relations). The latter approach considers democracy not as a "fixed condition" but rather as a dynamic phenomenon or the end result of the combined interactional relationships between culture and structure
Petar Rogulja's article "Before the Dawn" (1916) led to an intense debate about the organization of the Croatian Catholic Movement (Hrvatski katolicki pokret - HKP). He is important because he elaborated the ideology of the movement, which played an important role for Catholicism in the political life of Croatia. Rogulja and his supporters (the 'nacionalci' or 'nationalists') tried to reorganize he HKP into a "total system" (potpuni sistem). This meant that cultural and economic organizations were to be included as integral parts of a future political party. His opponents (the integralists or 'integralci') were not successful in attacking his policy. After the "Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes", the first Yugoslavia, was formed (1918), the seniors of the Church organized their own political party - Hrvatska pucka stranka (HPS - Croatian Popular Party). The party claimed to represent "positive elements of the Christian congregation", but also claimed that it was "non-confessional". The seniors made a commitment to "interconfessionalism". The creation of the "Catholic Action - Katolicka akcija" (KA) by Pius XI. provided official support for those Catholics that did not support the policy direction taken by the HKP. Unlike the HKP, which was organized from below, that is to say, by the laity outside of the auspices of the Church hierarchy, the organization of the KA was initiated from above, by the Church hierarchy as a whole. The KA, as defined by the encyclical "Ubi arcano Dei" (1922), along with other acts of the Holy See and the Catholic Church hierarchy, was not to include organizations intending to achieve "mundane objectives", thus, political parties. A political party was at the heart of the HKP, but even though this was the case, Rogulja's supporters contributed to the organization of the KA. Though the KA was meant to be non-political, this did not mean that it was indifferent to politics generally, or to those who based their political activity on Christian/Catholic tenets. Seniors faithful to Rogulja's orientation believed that members of the KA would support their party in political matters. In any case, the leaders of the Catholic Church throughout Croatian lands never obligated its members to support the HPS. Opponents of the seniors' political party, mainly adherents of the Croatian Union of the Eagle (1923), accused them of anti-clericalism. The political disputes among Catholic activists in Croatia was brought to an end, but not resolved, by the Yugoslav Monarch's suspension of the Vidovdan constitution in 1929, at which time political parties where outlawed. (SOI : CSP: S. 455f.)
У овом раду сам настојала да укажем на могућност истраживања културне политике у Србији на примеру рада Опере Нaродног позоришта у Београду, као и репертоарске политике Управе опере у друштвено-политичком и културолошком оквиру у периоду од 1971. до 2011. године. Разлог да се посветим истраживању рада Опере у поменутом временском раздобљу јесте питање: шта се догађало са Опером после златног периода? Сазнање да не постоји ниједна студија у којој је прикупљена и систематизована грађа о раду Опере Народног позоришта у протеклих четрдесет година, подстакло ме је да истражим могуће разлоге за "сумрак" институције која је, током златног периода била једна од најјачих адута југословенске културне политике. ; In this paper I tried to address the possibility of researching the cultural politics in Serbia in the case of Belgrade National Th eatre Opera as well as the repertoire politics of Opera's management in the social-political and the cultural context between 1971 and 2011. I wanted to address the following question: What was happening with the Opera after the Golden period? Th is paper discusses the changes that have infl uenced the development of the given cultural institution's work. Within the institution, there were problems as evidenced by the White Book, which was published 1970 in order to inform the general public about the idea of opera's all-round reform. Th e book stated that the main reasons for the reform were: 'insuffi cient professionalism', material and fi nancial situation and the Opera's repertory. At the end of the 1960s, the National Th eatre failed to "prepare" basic conditions for reform. In 1968 Th eater Community was founded, as well as specifi c self-association and through the activities of the organization National Th eatre secured substantial funding. Th ere were several reform initiatives to improve the situation in Opera, such as the idea of establishing a chamber theater - Krug 101 and the improvement of professional work in Opera. By the beginning of the 1980s, Yugoslavia was economically falling even deeper into crisis and that refl ected in the work of Opera. Th e beginning of 1990s was marked by strong political interference in all spheres of life, which was typical for a society in transition. Preliminary concept of cultural politics of this period was to propagate the desirable national values of the new Yugoslavia. Th is was confi rmed by the fact that the repertoire of the Opera exempted all the works of the composers of the former countries of Yugoslavia and set only a part of Serbian authors. It was a time when the theater faced insuffi cient funding from the state budget. Th is situation infl uenced the quality and quantity of performance. Former Socialist Party was replaced with Democratic Party, which in the next ten years (2000–2010) strived towards 'modern' Serbia. Th is was confi rmed by the work of the Opera, which aimed to return to the European stage (travel abroad, setting the forgotten and the new opera). From the early 1970s to 2011 in the work of the Opera, we tried to fi nd possible reasons that led to the "twilight" institutions. It is necessary now to focus on the cultural life by establishing a cultural policy that will determine the goals and strategies of cultural action. Th is direction may be possible after the transition, which means "regulated society" that will have a stable cultural policy, and thus defi ned the relationship between the state and national opera, and its repertoire. ; Први национални научни скуп са међународним учешћем
Hladni rat je predstavljao rat ideologija bez presedana u istoriji. Nijedan drugi rat, ni pre ni posle ovog višedecenijskog hladnog sukoba između Sjedinjenih Američkih Država i Saveza Sovjetskih Socijalističkih Republika, nije bio rat koji se vodio u tolikoj meri u sferi meke moći kao Hladni rat. Odsustvo neposrednog oružanog sukoba između Sjedinjenih Američkih Država i Sovjetskog Saveza učinilo je da se Hladni rat odvija kao takmičenje u sferi ekonomije, tehnologije i nauke, kao trka u nuklearnom i konvencionalnom naoružanju i kao svemirsko nadmetanje. Pored takmičenja u sferi tvrde moći, Sjedinjene Američke Države i Sovjetski Savez vodili su intenzivnu bitku u oblasti meke moći. Ovo je bio sukob između američke liberalno-demokratske ideologije i sovjetske marksističke ideologije. Svaka od ove dve zemlje težila je tome da ubedi građane one druge zemlje da je njen društveni i ekonomski sistem idealan i da je bolji i pravedniji od sistema njenog glavnog suparnika. Uzrok propasti Sovjetskog Saveza i komunizma u istočnoj Evropi nikada sa sgurnošću neće moći da bude određen. Okolnosti koje su dovele do raspada Sovjetskog Saveza, pada Berlinskog zida 1989. godine i urušavanja komunizma u Evropi ne mogu se svesti na skup vojnih, političkih, ekonomskih i društvenih činilaca koji su, nezavisno jedni od drugih, doveli do tektonskih promena u međunarodnim odnosima. Svi ovi činioci zajedno, isprepletani u kompleksnu mrežu poluga, učinili su da se Sovjetski Savez uruši i da Sjedinjenim Američkim Državama prepusti ulogu pobednika u Hladnom ratu. Pritom, Amerika nije bila samo vojni i ekonomski pobednik. Amerika je iz Hladnog rata izašla kao moralni i ideološki pobednik. Hladni rat predstavlja temu izuzetno velikog broja radova, ali mali broj tih radova se bavi analizom američko-sovjetskog sukoba u sferi meke moći. Stoga je cilj ovog istraživanja i rada rasvetljavanje, objašnjene i tumačenje poluga meke moći koje su Sjedinjene Američke Države institucionalizovale, pokrenule i upotrebile u ideološkoj borbi protiv Sovjetskog Saveza u vreme Hladnog rata. Međutim, Sjedinjene Američke Države nisu od svog nastanka u drugoj polovini 18. veka do Hladnog rata osmišljeno primenjivale svoju meku moć. Do Hladnog rata upotreba poluga meke moći bila praksa kojom su se Sjedinjene Američke Države bavile isključivo u vreme učešća u oružanim sukobima. Tek sa Hladnim ratom u Americi se javlja potreba za namenskom i osmišljenom upotrebom poluga meke moći. Odmah nakon Drugog svetskog rata Sovjetski Savez je počeo da vrši uticaj na druge zemlje šireći marksističku ideologiju i komunističke ideje. Osim širenja marksističke ideologije Sovjetski Savez je vodio i dobro osmišljenu kampanju protiv Sjedinjenih Američkih Država i američkog načina života. Američka administracija je kao odgovor na sovjetsku spoljnu politiku u periodu od 1946. do 1950. godine stvorila politiku obuzdavanja Sovjetskog Saveza i sovjetskog uticaja u svetu svim sredstvima. Ovo je podrazumevalo kako upotrebu poluga tvrde moći tako i primenu poluga meke moći. U to vreme u američkom društvu postojao je konsenzus o upotrebi političkih, vojnih i ekonomskih oruđa u borbi protiv Sovjetskog Saveza, ali je upotreba poluga meke moći bila predmet duge javne rasprave. Jedna od izuzetno važnih poluga meke moći su državni programi informisanja, odnosno ono što se u Sjedinjenim Američkim Državama smatra propagandom, a propaganda se od nastanka Sjedinjenih Američkih Država do danas smatra nečasnom delatnošću autokratskih režima. Sjedinjene Američke Države su u periodu neposredno nakon Drugog svetskog rata sprovele zakonske, institucionalne i strukturalne promene koje su omogućile trajno ustanovljavanje poluga meke moći zarad širenja američkih vrednosti, ideja i kulture i zarad ideološke borbe protiv Sovjetskog Saveza i sovjetske marksističke ideologije. Zakoni doneti u to vreme su na snazi i danas i pružaju okvir za mnogobrojne programe i aktivnosti na polju primene poluga meke moći po celom svetu. ; The Cold War was a war without precedent in the history. No war before this prolonged cold conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union was waged that much in the realm of soft power as the Cold War. In the absence of an immediate armed conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union, the Cold War was conducted as a competition in the areas of economy, technology and science, nuclear and conventional weapons, as well as the space race. Besides the competition in the realm of hard power, the United States and the Soviet Union pursued an intensive battle in the realm of soft power. This was a conflict between the American ideology of a liberal democracy and the Soviet Marxist ideology. Each of the two attempted to persuade the citizens of the other country that its social and economic practice was an ideal one, better and more just than the other one. The source of the collapse of the Soviet Union and communism in Eastern Europe will never be fully determined. The circumstances that brought about the break-up of the Soviet Union, the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, and the fall down of communism in Europe cannot be summarized as an aggregation of military, political, economic and social factors that independently from each other led to the colossal changes in the world order. All of these factors, entangled together in a complex net, caused the implosion of the Soviet Union which left the United States as the winner in the Cold War. Yet, the United States was not only a military and economic victor, it resurfaced as a moral and ideological champion, as well. The Cold Was has been a theme of numerous papers but only a handful of these papers tackled the American-Soviet conflict in the realm of soft power. Thus, the objective of this research and dissertation is to shed the light, explain and construe the instruments of soft power that the United States institutionalized, put into motion and deployed in the ideological battle against Soviet Union in the Cold War. However, since its birth in the 18th century until the Cold War, the United States had not wielded its soft power strategically. Up to the Cold War, the soft power instruments were used exclusively during the times when the United States was involved in an armed conflict. Only in the Cold War, the need for intentional and thoughtful use of soft power instruments emerged. Soon after the end of the Second World War, the Soviet Union got set off to exert its influence by diffusing its Marxist ideology and communist values. In addition to spreading its ideology, the Soviet Union led a well-planned campaign against the United States and the American way of life. From 1946 to 1950, in response to the Soviet policy towards the United States, the American administration coined the policy of containment of the Soviet Union and the Soviet influence in the world. The policy of containment included both the use of the instruments of hard power and of soft power. At that time, there was a consensus in the American society on the use of political, military and economic means in fighting the Soviet Union, while the use of soft power instruments was a subject of a prolonged public discourse. Government information programs, perceived as propaganda in the United States, have always been a very important soft power instrument, and propaganda has been considered by Americans to be a dishonest activity of autocratic governments. In the period right after the Second World War, the United States implemented legislative, institutional and structural changes that allowed for permanent establishment of the soft power instruments. These foreign policy instruments made it possible for the United States government to diffuse American values, ideas and culture and to wage an ideological war against the Soviet Union and its Marxist principles. The acts adopted at that time are in place nowadays, and provide a legal framework for numerous programs and activities in the realm of soft power.