Hans Schippers assesses the position of the Islamic AK Party led by Prime Minister Erdogan in the light of the relationship between religion and the state in Turkey. Although the AK Party won the general elections in 2002, Erdogan has the Damocletian sword of a military coup hanging above his head ever since. The military consider themselves to be the guardians of Kemal Atatürk's legacy of Turkey as a secular state. In the past decades they intervened four times in politics, the most recent one the 1998 'post modern' coup to oust the Islamic Prime Minister Erbakan, whose approach to Iran, critical opinions on the EU and NATO and favourisation of religious education had gone too far in the eyes of the military. Erdogan cleverly avoided the mistakes of his predecessor. He declared the AKP to be a conservative, pro-EU and pro-NATO party that would seek adherence to the mostly christian-democratic European Peoples Party. His government would be liberal and respect people with different opinions on religion. Erdogan did well in regional elections of 2004. However, he met with growing criticism in the following two years. The organisational structure of the AKP is undemocratic and the number of women active in the party is far too limited, his critics remarked. The party is accused of conducting a campaign of 'creeping islamisation' of Turkish society. The military closely monitor every decision of the government near two-thirds majority in parliament and he could They have the support of the secular president have a party member elected. This would increase Sezer who has amended or rejected a large number the chances of military intervention. Erdogan will of Erdogans proposals. A crucial moment for the probably opt for a compromise candidate. However, AKP-government will be the election by parliament until the arliamentary elections of November, the of a new president, coming May. Erdogan has a political.
This book deals with community-building as it manifested itself in early modern 's-Hertogenbosch. Citizenship and autonomous collective organisations were phenomena that were present in all West-European cities. Mostly men organised themselves in among others civic militias, craft-guilds and the reformed congregation: corporations that may be considered the most important institutions of the middling sort. The members of the corporate institutions rendered their services to a great extent to the master-corporation, their domicile. On the basis of the situation in 's-Hertogenbosch the following questions will be answered: 1. how was civil society formed in Dutch cities in the seventeenth and eighteenth century; 2. in what way did the corporate institutions contribute to the local community-building; 3. how did these social connections develop in time. Craft-guilds, civic militias and the church created a bond between the people. By their regulations members of these corporations took up a juridically clearly defined position towards the inhabitants who did not belong, and especially towards foreigners. In the corporations individual freedom was not sought as its highest goal, but the welfare of the collective. The corporations offered their members dignity, social acceptance, participation, sociability and protection in times of distress, and they bore responsibility for the organization of the city. In this book there is definitely a place for conflict as well. A harmonious and prosperous society is in the view of communautarists like Robert Putnam's almost the natural outcome from citizens cooperating in unions. Conflict forms an essential part of the interaction between people. In spite of the conflicts corporations did not collapse. Corporations underlined the importance of the social bond for the individual as well as the community. The main obstacle was religion. The policy of the town council was directed towards a fair and just treatment of the different confessions within the framework of the Capitulation Treaty of 1629 and the "laws of The Hague". The town council was the guardian of the common interest and it corrected the corporations that were inclined to serve their own ends. Skipping the details Robert Putnam draws attention to the corporations in North-Italian city-states that caused civil communities to bloom. Putnam relates this to the present American society. He just like Amitai Etzioni, another important community-thinker, recognizes the importance of social connections in which members cooperate, have discussions and in doing so keep democracy alive. Communautarists pay attention to the transmitting of norms and values. Corporations in early modern times also were emphatically engaged in this. What applied to Putnam's city-states in the late Middle Ages also applies to the corporations in early modern 's-Hertogenbosch. Members of the corporations created a lively culture of discussion, a necessary condition for a community on its way to democracy. (Jonathan Israel states that 'the democratic republic [started] in the Republiek') In order to deliberate with one another it is important that the partners in deliberation trust one another. Cooperating within social connections and delegating responsibilities is only possible, as Fukuyama points out, if there is trust. Both within the guilds and the militias this trust could grow because quite soon after the Reduction of 1629 the catholic and reformed members started to work on the ecumenicity of everyday life. Schilling and Blickle both ascertain, ignoring details, that changes into a democratic direction in early modern times were initiated bottom-up in small connections. The discussion that Tönnies started on Gesellschaft und Gemeinschaft is still very much alive especially when we take into account the 'golden rules' of Etzioni. He draws attention to the smaller connections - intermediary institutions - that a democratic communitarian society, a 'community of communities' needs if it is to stay alive.
U predgovoru prvog godišta "Jevrejskog almanaha" od 2. septembra 1925. (12. elula 5685) godine, predsednik Saveza Rabina Kraljevine Srba, Hrvata i Slovenaca dr Isak Alkalaj obrazlaže pokretanje ovog godišnjaka. Konstatuje da je Prvi svetski rat izmenio prilike u celoj Evropi i da je jugoslovenska država podnela ogromne žrtve. Iako se tragovi tog najstrašnijeg rata, još uvek osećaju u celom svetu, čine se ogromni napori da se nadoknadi sve što je izgubljeno. Sve zajednice, udruženja i grupe težile su ka duhovnoj obnovi, a svi ciljevi bili su posvećeni obnovi i napretku. I jevrejska zajednica koja je osetila značaj svoje uloge bila je veoma aktivna. Jevrejstvo Kraljevine organizovano kroz veliki broj lokalnih kulturnih i verskih udruženja, sastavljeno iz veroispovednih opština, ujedinilo se u jedinstvenu zajednicu. Iako su u tom procesu postojale određene poteškoće zbog specifičnosti pojedinačnih zajednica koje su pre ujedinjenja bile izložene različitim uticajima, postignut je značajan uspeh. Primer uspešnog načina obrazovnog rada pokazali su rabini kao duhovne vođe i učitelji, tumači božijih reči, nosioci jevrejskog duha i svesti. U periodu nakon rata rabini su posvetili svoje znanje i svoje vreme opštim stvarima zajednice, širenju religije i ljubavi čoveka prema bližnjem, vraćanju lepim tradicijama i etičkom i duhovnom vaspitanju. Jačanjem tradicije i oživljavanjem prošlosti, oni su vršili misionarski zadatak i vraćali pobožni svet starom poretku punom vrlina. Da bi što bolje i uspešnije postigli svoj zadatak, rabini Kraljevine su se organizovali u Savez, koji je imao dva uspešna i podsticajna kongresa u Zagrebu i Beogradu na kojima su se rešavala mnogobrojna važna pitanja iz duhovnog i verskog života. Jedna od inicijativa Saveza rabina bila je pokretanje ovog Almanaha kao prvog književno-naučnog dela koje će okupiti intelektualce i biti duhovni i kulturni vodič za sve važne pojave u jevrejskom verskom, socijalnom, istorijskom, književnom i političkom životu. Almanah je izlazio Vršcu u periodu od 1925 do 1930., odnosno od 5686 do 5690 godine po jevrejskom kalendaru u izdanju Saveza rabina Kraljevine SHS, na srpskohrvatskom, hebrejskom i nemačkom jeziku. Tekstovi su štampani latiničnim, ćirilićnim i hebrejskim pismom. Izašlo je ukupno pet godišta. Urednici prvog godišta bili su Leopold Fišer (Fischer), nadrabin u Vršcu i Mojsije Margel, rabin u Zagrebu. Ostala četiri godišta uređivao je Leopold Fišer. Štampan je u štampariji "Artistički zavod ud. J. E. Kiršner (Kirschner)" iz Vršca. Osim radova iz naučnih i verskih oblasti svako godište Almanaha sadržavalo je i jevrejski kalendar za tekuću jevrejsku godinu, književne preglede i statistiku jevrejstva u Kraljevini. ; In the preface to the first volume of the "Jewish Almanac" of September 2, 1925 (Elul 12, 5685), the president of the Federation of Rabbis of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, Dr. Isak Alkalaj, explains the launch of this yearbook. He states that the First World War changed the situation in the whole of Europe and that the Yugoslav state suffered huge sacrifices. Although the traces of that most terrible war are still felt all over the world, huge efforts are being made to make up for everything that was lost. All communities, associations, and groups aspired to spiritual renewal, and all goals were dedicated to renewal and progress. The Jewish community, which felt the importance of its role, was also very active. The Jewry of the Kingdom, organized through a large number of local cultural and religious associations, composed of religious communities, united into a single community. Although there were some difficulties in this process due to the specifics of individual communities that were exposed to different influences before unification, significant success was achieved. The example of a successful way of educational work was shown by rabbis as spiritual leaders and teachers, interpreters of God's words, bearers of the Jewish spirit and consciousness. In the period after the war, the rabbis dedicated their knowledge and their time to the general affairs of the community, the spread of religion and human love, the return of beautiful traditions, and ethical and spiritual education. By strengthening the tradition and reviving the past, they performed a missionary task and returned the religious people to the old order full of virtues. In order to better and more successfully achieve their task, the rabbis of the Kingdom organized themselves into the Federation, which had two successful and stimulating congresses in Zagreb and Belgrade, at which many important issues from the spiritual and religious life were resolved. One of the initiatives of the Rabbinical Federation was the launch of this Almanac as the first literary-scientific work that will gather intellectuals and be a spiritual and cultural guide for all important phenomena in Jewish religious, social, historical, literary, and political life. The Almanac was published in Vršac in the period from 1925 to 1930, i.e. from 5686 to 5690 according to the Jewish calendar, published by the Federation of Rabbis of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, in Serbo-Croatian, Hebrew and German. The texts are printed in Latin, Cyrillic, and Hebrew. Five volumes have been published. For the first year, the editors were Leopold Fischer, a senior rabbi in Vršac, and Mojsije Margel, a rabbi in Zagreb. The other four years were edited by Leopold Fischer. It was printed in the printing house "Artistički zavod ud. J. E. Kirschner" from Vršac. In addition to works from scientific and religious fields, each volume of the Almanac also contained the Jewish calendar for the current Jewish year, literary reviews and statistics of Judaism in the Kingdom. ; Tekstovi su štampani na srpskohrvatskom, hebrejskom i nemačkom jeziku, latiničnim, ćirilićnim i hebrejskim pismom (the texts were printed in Serbo-Croatian, Hebrew and German, in Latin, Cyrillic and Hebrew.)
