Search results for ""ibidem-Verlag""

The "Joint Declaration of Twenty-two States", signed in Paris on 19 November 1990 by the Chiefs of State or Government of all the countries which participated in World War Two in Europe, is the closest document we will ever have to a true "peace treaty" concluding World War II in Europe. In his new book, retired United States Ambassador John Maresca, who led the American participation in the negotiations, explains how this document was quietly negotiated following the reunification of Germany and in view of Soviet interest in normalizing their relations with Europe. With the reunification of Germany which had just taken place it was, for the first time since the end of the war, possible to have a formal agreement that the war was over, and the countries concerned were all gathering for a summit-level signing ceremony in Paris. With Gorbachev interested in more positive relations with Europe, and with the formal reunification of Germany, such an agreement was -- for the first time -- possible. All the leaders coming to the Paris summit had an interest in a formal conclusion to the War, and this gave impetus for the negotiators in Vienna to draft a document intended to normalise relations among them. The Joint Declaration was negotiated carefully, and privately, among the Ambassadors representing the countries which had participated, in one way or another, in World War Two in Europe, and the resulting document -- the "Joint Declaration" -- was signed, at the summit level, at the Elysée Palace in Paris. But it was overshadowed at the time by the Treaty on Conventional Forces in Europe -- signed at the same signature event -- and has remained un-noticed since then. No one could possibly have foreseen that the USSR would be dissolved about one year later, making it impossible to negotiate a more formal treaty to close World War II in Europe. The "Joint Declaration" thus remains the closest document the world will ever see to a formal "Peace Treaty" concluding World War Two in Europe. It was signed by all the Chiefs of State or Government of all the countries which participated in World War II in Europe.

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This book investigates state-building, distorted identities, and separatism in the Republic of Moldova. At various times, this region was a former imperial Russia borderland, a province in interwar Romania, a republic in the Soviet Union, and ultimately a modern state where the interests of Moscow and the West collide. The book presents research on the historical preconditions and spread of the secessionist movement in Transnistria, the war in the Dniester River valley, and the diplomatic deadlock of the Transnistrian problem. It further examines the conflicting positions that political parties, the public, and experts have taken towards the problems that challenge the nation- and state-building processes in this post-Soviet state. Additional focal points include the reassertion of Russia's power in the post-Soviet space, Ukraine's effort to become a major political player in the region, and Romania's attempt to retrieve its influence in Moldova. This study demonstrates that separatism generates mutually exclusive nation-building projects on the territory of a single state, where pre-existing historical conditions and geopolitical realities interweave and impede the construction of a modern nation-state. It also evinces that international actors play a significant role in this process, and that they are dominant and superimposed on the local decision-makers. Moreover, domestic and external factors connected with nation-building policies often conflict with each other and hinder the development of a resolution of the so-called "frozen conflict" over Transnistria.

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This book provides a critical survey of the literature on the Vietnam War and is intended both for academic and general readers. Earlier works of this kind constantly recycled criticism of a half-dozen of the same works. In this study, the aim was to discuss a much greater number of works, including a few that have never been discussed. To appeal to non-academic readers, Lit-Crit jargon was kept to a minimum, and parallels with earlier works of war literature, especially those of the two world wars, were established.

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"The USSRs dissolution resulted in the creation of not only fifteen recognized states but also of four non-recognized statelets: Nagorno-Karabakh, South Ossetia, Abkhazia, and Transnistria. Their polities comprise networks with state-like elements. Since the early 1990s, the four pseudo-states have been continously dependent on their sponsor countries (Russia, Armenia), and contesting the territorial integrity of their parental nation-states Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Moldova. In 2014, the outburst of Russia-backed separatism in Eastern Ukraine led to the creation of two more para-states, the Donetsk Peoples Republic (DNR) and the Luhansk Peoples Republic (LNR), whose leaders used the experience of older de facto states. In 2020, this growing network of de facto states counted an overall population of more than 4 million people. The essays collected in this volume address such questions as: How do post-Soviet de facto states survive and continue to grow? Is there anything specific about the political ecology of Eastern Europe that provides secessionism with the possibility to launch state-making processes in spite of international sanctions and counteractions of their parental states? How do secessionist movements become embedded in wider networks of separatism in Eastern and Western Europe? What is the impact of secessionism and war on the parental states? The contributors are Jan Claas Behrends, Petra Colmorgen, Bruno Coppieters, Nataliia Kasianenko, Alice Lackner, Mikhail Minakov, and Gwendolyn Sasse."

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South Asian Diasporic Writing -- poetry, fiction literary theory, and drama by writers from India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka now living in the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the USA -- is one of the most vibrant areas of contemporary world literature. In this volume, twelve acclaimed writers from this tradition are interviewed by experts in the field about their political, thematic, and personal concerns as well as their working methods and the publishing scene. The book also includes an authoritative introduction to the field, and essays on each writer and interviewer. The interviewers and interviewees are: Alexandra Watkins, Michelle de Kretser, Homi Bhabha, Klaus Stierstorfer, Amit Chaudhuri, Pavan Malreddy, Rukhsana Ahmad, Maryam Mirza, Shankari Chandran, Birte Heidemann, Neel Mukherjee, Anjali Joseph, Chris Ringrose, Michelle Cahill, Rajith Savanadasa, Mariam Pirbhai, Maryam Mirza, Mridula Koshy, Sehba Sarwar, Dr Angela Savage, Sulari Gentill.

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The contributions gathered in this fascinating collection, in which scholars from a diverse range of disciplines share their perspectives on Russian covert activities known as Russian active measures, help readers observe the profound influence of Russian covert action on foreign states policies, cultures, peoples mentality, and social institutions, past and present. Disinformation, forgeries, major show trials, cooptation of Western academia, memory, and cyber wars, and changes in national and regional security doctrines of states targeted by Russia constitute an incomplete list of topics discussed in this volume. Most importantly, through a nexus of perspectives and through the prism of new documents discovered in the former KGB archives, the texts highlight the enormous scale and the legacies of Soviet/Russian covert action. Because of Russias annexation of Crimea in 2014 and its on-going war in Ukraines Donbas, Ukraine lately gained international recognition as the epicenter of Russian disinformation campaigns, invigorating popular and scholarly interest in conventional and non-conventional warfare. The studies included in this collection illuminate the objectives and implications of Russias attempts to ideologically subvert Ukraine as well as other nations. Examining them through historical lenses reveals a cultural clash between Russia and the West in general.

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Built on up-to-date field material, this edited volume suggests an anthropological approach to the palimpsest-like milieus of Wroclaw, Lviv, Chernivtsi, and Chişinău. In these East-Central European borderline cities, the legacies of Nazism, Marxism-Leninism, and violent ethno-nationalism have been revisited in recent decades in search of profound moral reckoning and in response to the challenges posed by the (post-)transitional period. Present shapes and contents of these urban settings derive from combinations of fragmented material environments, cultural continuities and political ruptures, present-day heritage industries and collective memories about the contentious past, expressive architectural forms and less conspicuous meaning-making activities of human actors. In other words, they evolve from perpetual tensions between choices of the past and the burden of the past. A novel feature of this book is its multi-level approach to the analysis of engagements with the lost diversity in historical urban milieus full of post-war voids and ruptures. In particular, the collected studies test the possibility of combining the theoretical propositions of Memory Studies with broader conceptualizations of borderlands, cosmopolitan sociality, urban mythologies, and hybridity. The volumes contributors are Eleonora Narvselius, Bo Larsson, Natalia Otrishchenko, Anastasia Felcher, Juliet D. Golden, Hana Cervinkova, Pawel Czajkowski, Alexandr Voronovici, Barbara Pabjan, Nadiia Bureiko, Teodor Lucian Moga, and Gaelle Fisher.

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This volume continues the series that scrutinizes, from a risk perspective, the current phenomenon of authoritarianism, as displayed by the new radical right (also known as alternative right), and whether it represents real democracy or an unacceptable hegemony potentially resulting in elected dictatorships and abuses as well as dysfunctional government and harm to many parties. The book identifies and analyzes risk issues arising from the radical-right phenomenon in many forms, including the personal safety and security of individual citizens, ethno-religious minorities, and other minorities and vulnerable groups, as well as threats to organizations, public order and national security, to democratic governance, and to international security. As chapters reveal, the cross-flow of ideological, organizational, and dark money support emanating primarily from US corporate foundations, lubricates the fusion of corporate and radical-right interests nationally, transnationally, and globally. This volume gathers contributions from eight leading academic authors and provides a detailed examination of the fusion of mutual interests between, on the one hand, powerful corporate leaders, executives, and wealthy oligarchs and, on the other, radical-right political leaders, parties and intermediary organizations promoting radical-right causes. The two worlds feed off, enable, and strengthen each other. Of particular relevance to the third decade of the 21st century is an examination of the corporate/radical-right stance on the COVID-19 pandemic and the phenomenon of wild allegations and grand conspiracy theories disseminated by the radical-right against their enemies.

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Learning foreign languages is a process of acquiring authentic contents in cultural contexts. In this respect, bilingual programs provide an effective connection between content-based studies and linguistic activities. The European umbrella term CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) not only comprises the aims and objectives of a sustainable format of teaching foreign languages but also the priority of content over language, in other words: language follows content, as in the Bauhaus precept form follows function. But in order to effectively integrate content and language, a comprehensive pedagogical approach is needed that goes beyond existing curricula and guidebooks. Bernd Klewitzaims at establishing the CLIL methodology by linking content requirements of subject areas, especially those in the social sciences, with linguistic building blocks and tools. The integrative methodology of bilingual programs extends to the study of literature, traditionally a domain of language tuition, but thought to be a seminal part of CLIL as well. The building blocks and language tools presented in this volume focus on learning foreign languages in cultural contexts, aims, and objectives of CLIL, parameters of an integrated bilingual teaching strategy, dimensions of bilingual learning, elements of a CLIL concept, Literary CLIL, CLIL tools and strategies, modules with worked examples, challenges, and desiderata, and a comprehensive glossary. Each section is completed with an interactive part of review, reflection, and practice.

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On 8 December 2013, Ukraine's central Lenin monument in Kyiv was pulled down. In the following months, in what became known as the "Leninfall", Ukraine swept away hundreds of communist monuments, expressing an explicit desire to break away from the Soviet past and, implicitly, from Russia. This book examines the evolution of post-Euromaidan de-Sovietisation beyond the issues of toppling of old statues and implementation of new anti-totalitarian laws. It explores decommunisation as both a political and cultural phenomenon that exposes the multivocality of the Ukrainian population and involves various forms of dialogical interaction between ordinary citizens and the state. Posters, graffiti, or street names are physical and discursive canvases where old meanings are being contested and re-articulated, and where new political symbols that combine nationalist and democratic elements are being defined.

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Britain does not have a written constitution. It has rather, over centuries, developed a set of miscellaneous conventions, rules, and norms that govern political behavior. By contrast, Bosnias constitution was written, quite literally, overnight in a military hanger in Dayton, USA, to conclude a devastating war. By most standards it does not work and is seen to have merely frozen a conflict and all development with it. What might these seemingly unrelated countries be able to teach each other? Britain, racked by recent crises from Brexit to national separatism, may be able to avert long-term political conflict by understanding the pitfalls of writing rigid constitutional rules without popular participation or the cultivation of good political culture. Bosnia, in turn, may be able to thaw its frozen conflict by subjecting parts of its written constitution to amendment, with civic involvement, on a fixed and regular basis; a revolving constitution to replicate some of that flexibility inherent in the British system. A book not just about Bosnia and Britain; a standard may be set for other plural, multi-ethnic polities to follow.

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Traditionally, far-right terrorism has been the black swan of terrorism studies -- receiving less attention than Jihadi extremism. In this book, William Allchorn takes a deep dive into multiple geographical locales and the online space of far-right movements, uncovering the crisis narratives that are animating violent far-right extremist milieus and presenting solutions on what we can do to stop them. Using eight country case studies and the results of an online pilot project, this is the first book-length presentation and discussion of counter techniques to far-right narratives-exploring their effectiveness, the ethics of such techniques, and their ability to disrupt pathways from radicalism towards violent extremism. Coming at a time of a renewed global wave of far-right violence, this book is of use to scholars as well as practitioners in the fields of far-right studies, terrorism studies, and strategic communications.

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"Memory is Our Home" is a powerful biographical memoir based on the diaries of Roma Talasiewicz-Eibuszyc, who was born in Warsaw before the end of World War I, grew up during the interwar period and who, after escaping the atrocities of World War II, was able to survive in the vast territories of Soviet Russia and Uzbekistan. Translated by her own daughter, interweaving her own recollections as her family made a new life in the shadows of the Holocaust in Communist Poland after the war and into the late 1960s, this book is a rich, living document, a riveting account of a vibrant young woman's courage and endurance. A forty-year recollection of love and loss, of hopes and dreams for a better world, it provides richly-textured accounts of the physical and emotional lives of Jews in Warsaw and of survival during World War II throughout Russia. This book, narrated in a compelling, unique voice through two generations, is the proverbial candle needed to keep memory alive.

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The Kremlin has sought to establish an exclusive Russian sphere of influence in the nations lying between Russia and the EU, from Georgia in 2008 to Ukraine in 2014 and Belarus in 2020. It has extended its control by means of military intervention, territorial annexation, economic pressure and covert activities. Moscow seeks to justify this behaviour by referring to an alleged threat from NATO and the Alliances eastward enlargement. In the rhetoric of the Kremlin, NATO expansion is the main source for Moscows stand-off with the West. This collection of essays and analyses by prominent politicians, diplomats, and scholars from the US, Russia, and Europe provides personal perspectives on the sources of the Russian-Western estrangement. They draw on historical experience, including the Russian-Western controversies that intensified with NATO's eastward expansion in the 1990s, and reflect on possible perspectives of reconciliation within the renewed transatlantic relationship. The volume touches upon alleged and real security guarantees for the countries of Eastern and Central Europe as well as past and current deficits in the Western strategy for dealing with an increasingly hostile Russia. Thus, it contributes to the ongoing Western debate on which policies towards Russia can help to overcome the deep current divisions and to best meet Europes future challenges.

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Special Sections: Russian Foreign Policy Towards the Near Abroad and Russia's Annexiation of Crimea II. This special section deals with Russias post-Maidan foreign policy towards the so-called near abroad, or the former Soviet states. This is an important and timely topic, as Russias policy perspectives have changed dramatically since 2013/2014, as have those of its neighbours. The Kremlin today is paradoxically following an aggressive realist agenda that seeks to clearly delineate its sphere of influence in Europe and Eurasia while simultaneously attempting to promote soft-power and a historical-civilisational justification for its recent actions in Ukraine (and elsewhere). The result is an often-perplexing amalgam of policy positions that are difficult to disentangle. The contributors to this special issue are all regional specialists based either in Europe or the United States.

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Soviet-era philosopher Merab Mamardashvili developed an original and subtle philosophical system distinct from both his orthodox and dissident colleagues. This volume provides English-speaking audiences with a range of his lectures and writings on ancient philosophy, civil society, the European project, and literature. After many decades hiding in plain sight, he emerges as a Soviet thinker who writes in the double-voiced manner of an ideologically surveilled academic and a potent literary and theoretical innovator independent of his context.

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Understand the process and the meaning of the development of drawing in children aged one-and-a-half to six. This new way of observing the drawings -- with curiosity, enthusiasm, and excitement from experiencing the moment and acceptance -- grants children the validation of being loved and understood, and increases their desire for creation, self-expression, and communication. In a language suitable for everyone, the book exposes the reader to the secret of the fixed order of the development of children's drawing, of all its stages and meanings. Understanding the stages of the motor and emotional development of children's drawings and unravelling the encounter as well as the connection between them generates a new interest in observing your children's drawings and also provides you with the tools to understand their emotional world. This book is an essential tool for every therapist, educator, or parent who wants to raise a child with the ability to communicate confidently and openly with the world. Even though this is considered a "child-like" process, this unique observation also contributes to understanding the emotional world of the adult as it is reflected in mature drawings and even, occasionally, opens a window to the experience of observing the art of drawing in general.

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The financial crisis of 20072009 exposed the weaknesses of the global over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives market such as limited transparency regarding risk exposures, poor counterparty risk management practices, and the risk of contagion arising from interconnectedness in this market. In the aftermath of the financial crisis, regulators introduced worldwide legislative and regulatory changes aimed at increasing the transparency and stability of the financial markets. In this book, Dr. Olga Lewandowska explores those novel regulatory solutions and their impact. The main focus is on central counterparty (CCP) clearing that became mandatory for OTC derivatives under the new regulatory paradigm. In four research papers, she analyzes CCP from different risk perspectives and based on four diverse research methods. Her book offers a comprehensive assessment of the risk-reduction potential of the CCPs, their implications for the financial markets, and the practical challenges in the implementation of the recent financial market reforms.

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The Russian Federations official acknowledgement of the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia in August 2008 has since been undermining both overall political stability in the Southern Caucasus in general and future perspectives of Georgias development in particular. Such recognition of new quasi-legal entities without consent of the parent state and a subsequent erosion of the principle of territorial integrity are pressing challenges in current world affairs. The Kremlins controversial 2008 decision continues to be an important bone of contention in Russian-Western relations. This study explores the emergence and recent transformation of modern norms of recognition, secession, and self-determination in international law. It traces the evolution of Soviet and Russian perspectives on the recognition of new states, and discusses overall Georgia-Russia relations in order to answer the question: Why did the Kremlin recognize Georgias two breakaway entities in contradiction to traditional Russian approaches to recognition? The author argues that Moscows deviant behavior vis-á-vis Tbilisi was caused by three major reasons, namely: the earlier recognition of Kosovo by many Western nations in disregard of Russias stance, the intention to prevent Georgias accession to NATO, and the necessity to legitimize a continued presence of Russian armed forces in Georgias two breakaway provinces.

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What is political correctness? What is conformism? And could one say that pre-emptive obedience is a part of the increasingly prevalent climate of political correctness encountered today? The authors of "PC on Earth" take issue with a fashionable phenomenon emerging from North American campuses that is beginning to take hold in Europe, too: the dangerous consequences of identity politics and pre-emptive obedience, which they define as an essential element of political correctness. This book is a collection of satire, philosophical analysis, travel reports, political analysis, and personal experiences. The authors, all Europeans, present diverse views on a controversial topic. This collection offers readers independent and free-thinking opinions they will get nowhere else.

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Syria is undergoing a stage of transformation, including political and social changes. This unique book focuses on the transformations in creative industries and presents a collection of research papers describing and analyzing this pivotal period, in which their role evolved from producing tangible cultural products to becoming an active player in the maintenance of knowledge and a source of support and revenue.

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Twenty years on from the end of war, the status of the north of Kosovo remains disputed. Ten years on from Kosovos declaration of independence from Serbia, the norths predominantly Serb population continues to resist integration. Education, health, and other vital services continue to be provided by Serbia. These latent tensions regularly surface through various forms of resistance, including protests and barricades (most notably those of 2011); resistance which has many historical precedents. Ian Bancroft provides an original ethnographic account of the reality in north Kosovo, mixing first-hand interviews and anecdotes with historical background and academic insight. He explores a diverse array of themes, including the Trepča mines, religious and cultural life, and the Main Bridge over the river Ibar, which has become a symbol of the divided town of Mitrovica. Bancroft examines memories of the war and 2004 riots, and the daily realities of local governance and politics in a post-war environment. The book also goes to the heart of the border/boundary regions, the multi-ethnic Bonjačka Mahala, and mixed areas on the periphery to tell the stories of those caught-up on the front-lines of conflict. As such, it offers valuable insights for aspiring peacebuilders into the challenges of working in a context of considerable complexity.

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A fearless diplomat. A dangerous mission. And only one way out. Joey Torino would be out-of-the-mould in almost any career. He is tough, independent, and doesn't shy away from confrontation. But he is an American diplomat, who has recently been suspended and recalled to Washington because of his involvement in a fight while assigned to the US embassy in Moscow. In spite of his reputation, or because of it, the senior levels of the State Department choose him for an unusual and dangerous assignment. A diplomatic colleague from the US Embassy in Moscow has gone missing in the high mountains of the Caucasus, where a local rebellion is being suppressed by Russian military forces. For the State Department, Torino is expendable. Sending him on this mission will show the US government is trying to find the missing diplomat, but it will also be a small gesture and will not alarm the Russian government. Torino doesn't hesitate to plunge into the middle of the conflict. But he finds a complex situation, from which there is no easy way out and where the best conclusion may not be the one he has been asked to deliver. When he chooses the dangerous path, the conflicting forces are closing in on him. Will the fearless Joey Torino find a way out?

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David Satter arrived in the Soviet Union in June, 1976 as the correspondent of the Financial Times of London and entered a country that was a giant theatre of the absurd. After 1982, he was banned from the Soviet Union but allowed back in 1990, and finally expelled in 2013 on the grounds that the secret police regarded his presence as undesirable. From 1976 to the present, he saw four different Russias, which differed from each other radically while remaining essentially the same. From 1976 to 1982, the Soviet Union was at the height of its world power and its people were in thrall to an absurd ideology. With the advent of Gorbachevs perestroika, the Soviet population was liberated from the ideology and the state hurtled to its inevitable collapse. When independent Russia emerged from the wreckage, the failure to replace the missing ideology with genuine moral values led to Russias complete criminalization. The articles in this unique collection are a chronicle of Russia from the day David Satter arrived in the Soviet Union until the present. Emigres from the states of the former Soviet Union often despair of their inability to convey the true character of their experiences to the West. Penetrating the veil of Russian mystification requires effort and the ability to understand that seeing is not always believing. The Russians have created an entire false world for our benefit. This collection reflects David Satters 40-year attempt to see them as they are.

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Joseph Sverker explores the division between social constructivism and a biologist essentialism by means of Christian theology. For this, Sverker uses a fascinating approach: He lets critical theorist Judith Butler, psycholinguist Steven Pinker, and systematic theologian Colin Gunton interact. While theology plays a central part to make the interaction possible, the context is also that of the school and the effect of institutions on the pupil as a human being and learner. In order to understand what underlies the division between nature and nurture, or biology and the social in school, Sverker develops new central concepts such as a kenotic personalism, a weak ontology of relationality, and a relational and performative reading of evolution. He argues that most fundamental for what it is to be human is the person, vulnerability, bodiless, openness to the other, and dependence. Sverker concludes that the division between constructivism and essentialism discloses a deeper divide, namely that between fundamentally vulnerable persons on the one hand and constructed independent individuals on the other.

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Jerusalem is a child of the desert, a city precariously hovering on its brink, exposed to a bright, unrelenting sun. Its never-ending story continues to fascinate people. Jerusalem is not only an important historical and spiritual site but also a modern city, home and workplace to three quarters of a million people that draws attention as the Middle East's most controversial urban center. Yet the city we know today can actually only be understood against the background of the comprehensive and rapid changes which took place here in the second half of the 19th and the first decades of the 20th centuries. Beyond the Wall is a new take on an old city, offering a unique and unusual perspective. As an original work of non-fiction, the book sheds light on some of the enigmas of Jerusalems more recent past, telling the tale of its growth from a provincial town somewhere in the Turkish Empire into a modern city during the second half of the 19th century and the first decades of the 20th century. It recalls the time when Turkish rule was declining and many different population groups became active in Jerusalem, founding their own neighborhoods, institutions, and businesses while they competed for influence -- Jews and Arabs as well as the French, Germans, British, Russians, Austrians, Italians, and Americans, their consuls and clergy. The book also includes two chapters on Arab Jerusalem -- a subject that is often neglected -- and a preface by Teddy Kollek, who served as the citys mayor for almost 30 years.

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This volume deals with legal issues concerning Russias annexation of Crimea and intervention in the Donbas, so-called frozen conflicts and hybrid warfare, the use of courts and tribunals to address armed aggression, and the implications of recent events for the security guarantees connected to nuclear non-proliferation. Continuing from the first volume, which contains Parts One and Two on Chechnya and the Baltic States, this book is comprised of Part Three --Ukraine and other successor States: Territorial Integrity and its Challengers in the Post-Soviet Space; Part Four -- Intervention and International Law; Part Five -- Legal Proceedings and Unlawful Claims; and Part Six -- Non-Proliferation after Budapest.

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Helmut Meiers study of pro- and anti-slavery texts from 1784-1825 focuses on understanding the distinct image of Africans in the British debate on the slave trade and slavery as such. Starting from the premise that, at the threshold from the early to the late modern period, the distinct image of Africans as slaves was instrumental in universalising a Eurocentric concept of capitalist wage labor both at the colonial centres and margins, Meier argues that, by portraying African slaves as suffering wretches, especially anti-slavery texts created colonial Others in an indistinct zone between inclusion and exclusion from humanity. The discourse on slavery thus constructs African slaves as mimetic Others which could subsequently become the objects of a discourse of colonial reform and betterment.

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The escalating rivalry between the EU and Russia in their shared neighbourhood creates important economic, political, and legal challenges for the lands in between. Belarus and Ukraine have received proposals of integration from both the EU and Russia. However, the extents to which they accepted these offers differ and result from a multitude of factors as well as their interplay affecting the policy choices of their governments. International integration is a foreign policy question, but it has a strong domestic dimension too. Explaining various integration stances demands considering a countrys foreign and internal affairs. Alla Leukavets applies here Putnams two-level game-theoretical approach in combination with findings from comparative neighborhood Europeanization and democracy promotion studies, as well as Levitsky/Ways linkages-and-leverage-model. She develops various actor-centered and structural explanatory variables and applies them in the subsequent empirical analysis. Her research results benefit from triangulation through primary documents analysis and semi-structured interviews with elites and experts in Minsk, Moscow, Brussels, and Washington, DC. The book analyses how the simultaneity of European and Eurasian integration challenged the two countries to make a major strategic integration choice. The study sheds light on the reasons for and genesis of the Ukraine Crisis, and on how external actors, such as the EU, can succeed in facilitating domestic reforms in Eastern Partnership countries.

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"Featuring a special section on Russian Foreign Policy Towards the 'Near Abroad' Issue 4,2 deals with Russias post-Maidan foreign policy towards the so-called near abroad, or the former Soviet states. This is an important and timely topic, as Russias policy perspectives have changed dramatically since 2013/2014, as have those of its neighbors. The Kremlin today is paradoxically following an aggressive realist agenda that seeks to clearly delineate its sphere of influence in Europe and Eurasia while simultaneously attempting to promote soft-power and a historical-civilizational justification for its recent actions in Ukraine (and elsewhere). The result is an often perplexing amalgam of policy positions that are difficult to disentangle. The contributors to this special issue are all regional specialists based either in Europe or the United States. "

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This book is among the first comprehensive efforts to collectively and academically investigate the legacy of the Euromaidan in conflict-torn Ukraine within the domain of civil society broadly understood. The contributions to this book identify, describe, conceptualize, and explain various developments in Ukrainian civil society and its role in Ukraines democratization, state-building, and conflict resolution by looking at specific understudied sectors and by tracing the situation before, during, and after the Euromaidan. In doing so, this trailblazing collection highlights a number of new themes, challenges, and opportunities related to Ukrainian civil society. They include volunteerism, grassroots community-based activism, social activism of churches, civic efforts of building peace and reconciliation, civic activism of journalists and mediators, digital activism, activism of think tanks and expert coalitions, the LGBT movement, challenges of civil society relations with the state, and the closing of civic space.

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Now that academics are required to be teachers, managers, media catalyzers, analysts, fundraisers, and social media animals: How do you strike a good balance between what is expected from you and what you want to do?What conferences to attend? How to find the money to go there? Is it worth it to act as a peer reviewer? What publishers are best to target? Is publishing a chapter in an edited book worth the work?This book is intended to help scholars to design and think strategically about their own career. Beginning with How to get published in good journals, it explores a number of questions that most academics encounter at various stages of their careers.

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Based on an institutional approach to ethnic conflict, Petar Cholakov highlights the idiosyncrasies of, and the challenges to, inter-ethnic relations in Bulgaria. He traces the emergence of the currently implemented Bulgarian ethnic model in its interconnection with the party system, and especially examines the ideology, political support, and mobilization tools employed by the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) party as well as the populist radical right. Cholakov presents findings from case studies on Bulgarias Roma, crime, and politics. He analyzes Bulgarian integration policies and assesses the role of Bulgarias judiciary as well as contemporary antidiscrimination legislation, in particular, of the 2004 Protection against Discrimination Act. The monograph peruses decisions of, among others, the European Court of Human Rights and uncovers patterns of discrimination against Roma. By reverse engineering the Bulgarian ethnic model, Cholakov reveals how the institutions operate and comes to the conclusion that inter-ethnic peace has been entrusted to a defective mechanism which institutionalizes ethnic cleavage and politicizes identity. On the basis of his in-depth analysis, the author makes a prognosis for the future of ethnic relations in Bulgaria and provides recommendations for reforms.

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Even before the Ukrainian crisis, neither Russia nor the EU were content with their relationship. Despite economic interdependence, strategic partnership, official declarations of belonging culturally and historically to the same European family and in spite of Russias stated interest in establishing an economic community stretching from Lisbon to Vladivostok, the two actors found it difficult to agree on important issues. The conflictual atmosphere between the EU and Russia has three main dimensions: the normative issue, energy relations, and the shared neighbourhood with the latter being particularly salient after the launch of the Eastern Partnership (EaP) in 2009. The former Soviet space is at the core of Russian foreign policy. Moscows special interest in this area results from economic factors, diaspora issues, and, most importantly, from its perceived security need. Obsessed by a fear of being encircled by enemies, Russia sees its hegemony over the former Soviet republics as paramount to the protection of its own borders. Therefore, the rapprochement of any other actor towards this region is regarded with high suspicion.Against this background, Vasile Rotaru analyzes EU-Russia relations with a particular emphasis on the impact of the EaP on Moscows relations with Brussels. He argues that the EaP represented a turning point in EU-Russia relations, determining Moscow to revise its attitude towards the Union. Rotaru explains that, even if the EaP was Brussels initiative, the Partnership met the aspirations of the six former Soviet republics. Moreover, despite its opposition towards the EUs initiative, Russia itself acted involuntarily as a propeller of the EaP. By aiming to keep the former Soviet republics close, Moscow often conducts an assertive, aggressive policy in the near abroad. This strategy, however, had mostly opposite effects, causing Russias neighbors to look elsewhere for support of their sovereignty. From this perspective, the rapprochement of Moldova, Belarus, Ukraine, and the three Caucasus republics with the EU has not been determined only by Brussels prosperity and soft-power attractiveness but also by existential fears in the former Soviet republics.The book appeals to a wide range of students, researchers, and professors specializing on Russia, the EU, and the former Soviet space in the fields of International Relations, Foreign Policy Analysis, and Security Studies as well as to think-tank analysts and policy makers.

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Brusselss idea of a wider Europe implies that Europeanisation is not limited to EU member states. The EU can, so it claims, also exert impact beyond its borders. One of the channels of external EU influence is cooperation between Europarties and parties outside the Union. Through mutual visits and joint activities, non-EU parties become internationally socialised, i.e., are exposed to the Europarties norms as well as values, and experience the rules as well as practices that shape European party-building. What are the incentives for Europarties and non-EU parties to cooperate with each other? What kind of, and how much, impact did cooperation have on party development in post-Soviet Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine? Based on eighty interviews with party officials, international donors and academics, Maria Shagina outlines the set of motivations that trigger cooperation between Europarties and non-EU parties, analyses the impact of cooperation on party ideology, organisational structure, and inter-party behaviour in Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine, and explores the implications of this cooperation on the standardisation, consolidation, and democratisation of the non-EU party systems. Her findings shed light on how prestige and domestic factors impede the penetration of EU norms and values in the non-EU party structures, and point to the failures of Europarties to adequately address problems of party-development in Eastern Europe. The book reveals the ways in which cooperation with Europarties has paradoxically contributed to the ossification of the status quo and impaired the development as well as the consolidation of democracy in the three Eastern Partnership states.

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"The Journal of Soviet and Post-Soviet Politics and Society (JSPPS) is a bi-annual companion journal to the Soviet and Post-Soviet Politics and Society (SPPS) book series (founded 2004 and edited by Andreas Umland, Dr. phil., PhD). Like the book series, the journal provides an interdisciplinary forum for new original research on the Soviet and post-Soviet world. The first five issues to date have explored a diverse range of topics, including: Russian media coverage of the war in Ukraine; the experiences of Soviet Afghan war veterans in transnational perspective; discourses of memory and martyrdom in Eastern Europe; gender and anti-authoritarian protest in Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine; violence in post-Soviet space; and agency in Belarusian history, politics, and society."

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This timely book examines far-right politics in Hungary -- but its relevance points much beyond Hungary. With its two main players, the radical right Jobbik and populist right Fidesz, it is an essentially Eastern European, European, and global phenomenon. Jobbik and Fidesz, political parties with a populist, nativist, authoritarian approach, Eastern and pro-Russian orientation, and strong anti-Western stance, are on the one hand products of the problematic transformation period that is typical for post-communist countries. But they are products of a populist Zeitgeist in the West as well, with declining trust in representative democratic and supranational institutions, politicians, experts, and the mainstream media. The rise of politicians such as Nigel Farage in the UK, Marine Le Pen in France, Norbert Hofer in Austria, and, most notably, Donald Trump in the US are clear indications of this trend. In this book, the story of Jobbik (and Fidesz), contemporary players of the Hungarian radical right scene, are not treated as separate case studies, but as representatives of broader international political trends. Far-right parties such as Jobbik (and increasingly Fidesz) are not pathologic and extraordinary, but exaggerated, seemingly pathological manifestations of normal, mainstream politics. The radical right is not the opposite and denial of the mainstream, but the sharp caricature of the changing national, and often international mainstream.

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Conflict Resolution holds the promise of freeing approaches and policies with regard to politics of identity from the fatalistic grip of realism. While the conceptual literature on identity and conflicts has moved in this alternative direction, conflict resolution practice continues to rely on realist frames and acts as an unwanted auxiliary to traditional International Relations (IR). Perpetuation of conflict discourses, marginalization, and exclusion of affected populations are widespread. They are caused by the over-reliance of conflict resolution practice on the binary frames of classic IR paradigms and also by the competitive and hierarchical relationships within the field itself.Philip Gamaghelyan relies on participatory action research (PAR) and collective auto-ethnography to expose patterns of exclusion and marginalization as well as the paradoxical reproduction of conflict-promoting frames in current conflict-resolution practice applied to the Nagorno-Karabakh and Syrian crises. He builds on the work of post-modernist scholars, on reflective practice, and on discourse analysis to explore alternative and inclusive strategies with a transformative potential through reflections and actions customary for PAR.The IR discipline, that has dominated policy-making, is only one possible lens, and often a deficient one, for defining, preventing, or resolving contemporary conflicts wrapped in identity politics. Other conceptual frameworks can help to rethink our understanding of identity and conflicts and reconstruct them as performative and not static phenomena. These transformative frameworks are increasingly influential in the conflict resolution field and can be applied to policy-making.

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This special issue provides a forum for discussion of what Belarusian Studies are today and which new approaches and questions are needed to revitalize the field in the regional and international academic arena. The major aim of the issue is to go beyond the narratives of dictatorship and authoritarianism as well as that of a never-ending story of failed Belarusian nationalism -- interpretive schemes that are frequently used for understanding Belarus in scholarly literature in Western Europe and Northern America. Bringing together ongoing research based on original empirical material from Belarusian history, politics, and society, this issue combines a discussion of the concept of autonomy/agency with its applicability to trace how individual and collective actors who define themselves as Belarusian -- or otherwise -- have manifested their agendas in various practices in spite of and in reaction to state pressure. This issue offers new approaches for interpreting Belarusian society as a dynamically changing set of agencies. In doing so, it attempts to overcome a tradition of locating present Belarusian political and social dilemmas in its socialist past.

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This volume compares different regional perspectives on the national and democracy-building aims of individual states. It confronts discourses about national states to regional perspectives on the past as well as the current political and social landscape. Why are we observing calls for national identity right now? What are the roots of this development? How can a Central European identity be shaped when national perspectives are prevalent?The books first part analyses social and political processes that shaped nation-states in the Central European region and shows divergent trends of individual states when it comes to defining a regional approach of the Visegrád Group (Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary = V4). The second part focuses on key personalities of the 20th century history of individual V4 countries in the light of their perception in the neighbouring states and how they shaped national states as well as identities after the end of World War II. Similar aims and approaches implemented by individual countries often led to anything but raising regional understanding. The books third part reflects upon activities of various initiatives aiming to approach this challenge from the perspective of civil society, and Central Europes young generation. The collection brings together leading historians of Central Europe from the V4 countries. It also offers external perspectives on historical developments in Central Europe from the perspective of the 21st century and on political cooperation as well as its roots. Lastly, it includes practitioners of Central European cooperation from both academia and civil society, and their reflection on their countries political cooperation after 1989.

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This collection of new essays brings together scholarly examinations of a writer who -- despite the prestige that the Nobel Prize has earned him -- remains controversial with respect to his place in the literary tradition of his home country. This is in part because the positioning of Turkey itself in relation to the cultural divide between East and West has been the subject of a debate going back to the beginnings of the modern Turkish state and earlier. The present essays, written mostly by literary scholars, range widely across Pamuks novelistic oeuvre, dealing with how the writer, often adding an allegorical level to the personages depicted in his experimental narratives, portrays tensions such as those between Western secularism and traditional Islam and different conceptions of national identity.

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Focusing on the case of Russia during Putins first two presidential terms, this book examines media manipulation strategies in electoral authoritarian regimes. Which instruments and approaches do incumbent elites employ to skew media coverage in favour of their preferred candidate in a presidential election? What effects do these strategies have on news content? Based on two case studies of the presidential election campaigns in Russia in 2000 and in 2008, this investigation identifies the critical internal mechanisms according to which these regimes work. Looking at the same country, while it transformed from a competitive into a hegemonic authoritarian regime, allows one to make a diachronic comparison of these two regime types based on the Most-Similar Systems Design. The book explicates the subtle differences between competitive and hegemonic regimes, different types of media manipulation strategies, the diverging extent of media instrumentalisation, various interactions among state actors, large business owners, the media, and journalists, the respective effects that all these factors and interactions have on media content, and the peculiar types of bias prevalent in each type of regime. This deep exploration of post-Soviet politics is based on extensive review of documents, interviews with media professionals, and quantitative as well as qualitative content analyses of news media during two Russian presidential election campaigns.

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This book explores the central fictional minds in three of Ian McEwan's most popular narratives. Mind presentation constitutes the main part of characterisation in the second phase of McEwan's writing, where his plot structure depends to a large degree on the presentation of the characters mental workings. In Amsterdam (1998), Atonement (2003), and On Chesil Beach (2007), the construction process of the fictional minds, the degree their functioning is impacted by their experiences, and the way their mental aspect controls their behaviour and relationships are critical to the stories. Relying on insights and methods from Cognitive Narratology, this study follows two purposes: It firstly analyses the function of fictional minds and their operational modes in these narratives. Secondly, it explores the impact of the characters' experiences on both their mental functioning and their behaviour, especially with view of their relationships. Nayebpour reveals that the plot structure of these narratives highly depends on the lack of a sound balance between the two aspects of the represented minds (intermental/joint thought and intramental/individual thought) as well as on the dominance of the intramental one. The tragic atmosphere in these narratives, Nayebpour argues, is the result of this imbalance.

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Finally, Bruce King, acclaimed literary critic, presents his autobiography and offers fascinating insights into his life as bon vivant and literary critic.

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Building on the work of Emmanuel Levinas, this ground-breaking book puts the phenomenological paradigm into a new perspective. Overcoming the focus on self-reflection of the thinking subject and instead arguing for the importance of sociality as a responsibility for the Other, this new approach is based on inter-subjectivity and introduces a social dimension in phenomenology. This also allows for a different interpretation of the notion of justice, which in this context sits in the space between the one, the other, and the third before settling into any relation to the law. In the vast area inhabited by more or less distant others, moral responsibility is implemented through the establishment and maintenance of just institutions.

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In the wake of the fear that gripped Europe after the fall of Constantinople (1453), the English dramatists joined most continental artists (literary and visual) in representing the Ottoman Turks in plays inspired by historical events. As the many subjective elements involved in the stereotyping of the Turks in these plays -- revolving around complex themes such as tyranny, captivity, war, and conquests -- arose from their perception of Islam, Ottoman milieu as a dramatic setting provided for the English audiences a common experience of fascination and fear of the Other. The Ottomans' failure in the second siege of Vienna (1683), however, became a factor in the reversal of trends in the representation of the Turks on stage. As the ascending strength of a web of European alliances began to check further the Ottoman expansion, what then began to dazzle the aesthetic imagination of the eighteenth century England was the sultan's seraglio with images of extravaganza and decadence. In this book, Esin Akalin draws upon a selective range of seventeenth and eighteenth century plays to reach an understanding, both from a non-European perspective and Western standpoint how one culture represents the other through discourse, historiography, and drama. The book explores a cluster of issues revolving around identity and difference in terms of history, ideology, and politics of representation. In contextualising political, cultural, and intellectual roots in the ideology of representing the Ottoman/Muslim as the Wests Other, the author, ultimately, tackles with the questions of how history serves literature and to what extent literature creates history.

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How can the G20 fulfill their role most efficiently in the post-crisis era, and what role do the emerging economies play in the new global economic order? This timely volume provides an overview of the most important challenges ahead for the G20, especially China.

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This book brings forth debates on the production and eradication of poverty from experiences in the global South. It collects a set of innovative articles concentrating on the way in which poverty, as a social process, has been tackled by popular movements and the governments of various states across the globe. Providing new insights into the limitations of traditional strategies to confront poverty, it highlights how social organizations are working to transform the livelihoods of people through bottom-up struggle and more participatory approaches rather than passively waiting for top-down solutions.

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