Search results for ""ibidem""

The papers presented in this volume analyze the civil uprising known as Euromaidan that began in central Kyiv in late November 2013, when the Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych opted not to sign an Association Agreement with the European Union, and continued over the following months. The topics include the motivations and expectations of protesters, organized crime, nationalism, gender issues, mass media, the Russian language, and the impact of Euromaidan on Ukrainian politics as well as on the EU, Russia, and Belarus. The goal of the book is less to offer a definitive account than one that represents a variety of aspects of a mass movement that captivated world attention and led to the downfall of the Yanukovych presidency. The authors comprise well known and younger scholars who work on contemporary Ukraine and its neighbors.

Read more less

This timely book offers a fresh perspective on the issue of contemporary migratory labor, otkhodnichestvo, in Russia-the temporary departure of inhabitants from small towns and villages for short-term jobs in the major cities of Russia. Although otkhodnichestvo is a mass phenomenon, it is not reflected in official economic statistics. Based on numerous interviews with otkhodniks and local experts, this stunningly original work focuses on the central and northern regions of European Russia. The authors draw a social portrait of the contemporary otkhodnik and offer a sociological assessment of the economic and political status these 'wandering workers' live with.

Read more less

This timely book offers an integrative and critical approach to the conceptualization of diversity of social ties in contemporary urban migrant populations. It explores the informal relationships of migrants in London and how the construction and the dynamics of their social ties function as a part of urban sociality within the super-diversity of London. Based on the results of a qualitative study of Russian-speaking migrants, it targets the four main themes of transnationalism, ethnicity, cosmopolitanization, and friendship. Acknowledging the complexity of the ways in which contemporary migrants rely on social relationships, the author argues that this complexity cannot be fully grasped by theories of transnationalism or explanations of ethnic communities alone. Instead, one can gather a closer understanding of migrant sociality when adding the analysis of informal relationships in different locations and with different subjects. This book suggests that friendship should be seen as an important concept for all research on migrant social connections.

Read more less

This timely book offers a multifaceted analysis of EU-Russian relations, drawing on the investigation of competing models of international society. Makarychev argues that the huge variety of interest-based and normative models is best explained through the study of foreign policy and identity discourses. His approach defies simplistic explanations of EU-Russian relations as either destined for cooperation or doomed to constant collisions. Instead, Makarychev unveils multiple alternatives that both the EU and Russia face in their policies toward each other. Assessing the repercussions ongoing EU-Russian discord has on Europe and the world, Makarychev's volume reveals the interconnectedness of the discourses dominating the EU and Russia while also accounting for the deep-seated disconnect between them.

Read more less

Antiziganism is a widespread phenomenon in all European societies. Poor or rich, 'post-communist' or 'traditional', North or South, with 'lean' or 'thick' welfare systems -- all European societies demonstrate antisiganist prejudice. All across Europe Romanis are among the poorest, most destitute, and most excluded communities. Widespread prejudice and stereotypical representations of Romani individuals limit their chances for participation in democratic decision-making processes and their access to services. Unable to counteract majority stereotypes systematically, more often than not they remain on the fringes of society. This edited volume asks where these stereotypes and prejudices come from, why they are ubiquitous to all societies, and how pertinent their impact on antiziganist attitudes found in European societies really is.

Read more less

The figure of the Polish plumber or builder has long been a well-established icon of the British national imagination, uncovering the UK's collective unease with immigration from Central and Eastern Europe. But despite the powerful impact the UK's second largest language group has had on their host country's culture and populist politics, very little is known about its members. This painstakingly researched book offers a wide perspective on Polish migrants in the UK, taking into account the interactions between Poles and British society through discursive actions, policies, family connections, transnational networks, and political engagement of the diaspora. Borne out of a decade of ethnographic studies among various communities of Polish nationals living in London, Micha P Garapich documents the changes that affect both Polish migrants and British society. Arguing that neither group can be fully understood in isolation, it explores the complexity of Polish ethnicity and offers an insight into the inner tensions and struggles within what the public and scholars often assume to be a uniform and homogeneous category. From Polish financial sector workers to the Polish homeless population, this ground-breaking book offers an ethnographic, street-level account of cultural and social determinants of Polish migration and how Polish migrants redefine and reconstruct their understanding of class and ethnicity on a daily basis.

Read more less

The so-called Democratic Antifascist Youth Movement "Nashi" represents a crucial case of a post-Orange government-organised formation whose values have broad support in Russian society. Yet, at the same time, in view of the movement's public scandals, Nashi was also a phenomenon bringing to the fore public reluctance to accept all implications of Putin's new system. The Russian people's relatively widespread support for his patriotic policies and conservative values has been evident, but this support is not easily extended to political actors aligned to these values. Using discourse analysis, this book identifies socio-political factors that created obstacles to Nashi's communication strategies. The book understands Nashi as anticipating an "ideal youth" within the framework of official national identity politics and as an attempt to mobilise largely apolitical youngsters in support of the powers that be. It demonstrates how Nashi's ambivalent societal position was the result of a failed attempt to reconcile incompatible communicative demands of the authoritarian state and apolitical young.

Read more less

This book analyses the dubious role of the so-called Democratic Antifascist Youth Movement 'Nashi' in contemporary Russia. Part and parcel of the Putinist project of political stabilisation, Nashi dominates state-sponsored youth politics in Russia, communicating demands from official discourse to a young audience. Idealising the past, present, and future of Putin's Russia, Nashi mobilised young Russians through its emotional appeal, skilful use of symbolic politics and the promise for professional self-realisation. However, the movement's impact remains limited -- mostly due to its internal contradictions. Based on original and meticulous research, Ivo Mijnssen skilfully picks apart the dynamics underlying Nashi's influence and furthers a deeper understanding of state-sponsored youth politics in early 21st century Russia.

Read more less

In this remarkable book, David-Emil Wickström traces the transcultural flow of popular music production emanating from St. Petersburg, a central hub of the Russian music scene. With a specific focus on the post-Soviet emigrant community in Germany and their event 'Russendisko', Wickström -- himself a trumpet player in two local bands -- explores St Petersburg's vibrant music scene, which provides an electrifying platform for musical exchange. The findings shed a new light on Soviet and post-Soviet popular music history and even Russia's relationship to Ukraine. Wickström demonstrates the filtering processes embedded in transcultural flows and how music is attributed new meanings within new contexts. This innovative book not only promotes a deeper understanding of the role of popular music in society, it also enables a better comprehension of cultural processes in the second decade after the fall of the Soviet Union.

Read more less

Gianluca Delfino's study is based on the assumption that Wilson Harris's works as a whole show a remarkable unity of thought rooted in their author's complex imagination. As a valuable contribution to Caribbean Literature and Philosophy, Harris's imaginative approach to reality is discussed in relation to the categories of history and time with reference to several novels, from Palace of The Peacock to The Mask of the Beggar, with a special focus on The Infinite Rehearsal, Jonestown and The Dark Jester, spanning more than forty years of his vast literary production, encompassing critical perspectives ranging from African philosophy to Jungian readings through historiography and anthropology. As a result, the cross-cultural quality of Harris's thought emerges as a healing outcome of the traumatic colonial encounter, bringing together elements of Amerindian, African and European origin in an ongoing dialogue with time, nature, and the psyche. The outcome of an extensive research into Harris's world, Delfino's study comes as a contribution to late Hena Maes-Jelinek's critical enterprise by expanding philosophical and psychological readings, with the addition of anthropological perspectives that appeal to those who were captured by Harris's intricacy and rescued by Maes-Jelinek's illuminating interpretations. The attempt at the reconstruction of a unifying frame around Harris's body of work suggests a new way of looking at one of the Caribbean's most controversial authors.

Read more less

The whole Communist world is in the middle of a democratic revolution. Hall Gardner's novel depicts the protests taking place prior to the June 1989 Tiananmen Square repression-a subject still taboo in China.Hired to teach English, Mylex H. Galvin records his experience in his "Anti-Marco Polo" journal after he meets expats from around the world, while trying to come to grips with the Chinese language, history, and politics.Galvin becomes disillusioned with the poverty and environmental destruction that he finds in China; his barefoot doctor heroes are not capable of treating AIDS; Chinese and African students clash in Nanjing-with no sense of international solidarity.As the democracy movement heats up, he is torn between the love of Tao Baiqing, a Daoist, and Mo Li, a student of English Lit, and unwittingly betrays the ties between the journalist, Hayford, and the democracy activist, Chia Pao-yu-accused of leaking "top secrets" to Hayford.As Galvin studies China's relations with the Western world since Marco Polo, with emphasis on the "hundred years of humiliation," he becomes haunted by nightmares of a "clash of civilizations" and warns against a coming Apocalyptic Color War between the Balding Eagle and the Chinese Dragon-as the latter transmogrifies from Red into shades of Red-Brown-Black.

Read more less

Mustafa Kirca explores the dark sides of Alan Ayckbourn's comedy by comparing the playwright's characters with those of Chekhov's drama and drawing a parallelism in the character portrayal of both artists. The significance of Ayckbourn's plays, following Chekhov's footsteps, particularly lies in his vivid portrayal of characters from everyday life with psychological depth. Kirca shows that the fine mix of comedy and tragedy in Ayckbourn's drama is conveyed through his realistic characterization contrary to the farcical style of his plays. This kind of character portrayal in Ayckbourn's plays brings him very close to Chekhov and establishes the known equilibrium between comedy and tragedy in his theatre. The study covers Ayckbourn's Absent Friends, Just Between Ourselves, Joking Apart, Season's Greetings, Woman in Mind, A Small Family Business, and Henceforward. From Chekhov's drama, The Seagull, Uncle Vanya, The Three Sisters, and The Cherry Orchard are included to define the general Chekhovian character traits. The book is especially interesting for teachers, students, and for general readers who are interested in modern 'human comedies'.

Read more less

Noticing the importance of the fact that there is a growing interest in oriental countries and cultures, Hasan Baktir studies in his book the representation of the "Ottoman Orient" in 18th century English literature. He claims that a comprehensive understanding of the representation of the Ottoman Orient requires a new perspective; therefore, he investigates different aspects of the interaction between the Ottoman Orient and 18th century Europe. A number of questions continue to arise in the wake of Said's 1978 landmark study, Orientalism. How mono-directional was the flow of power in such representations? To what extent did the travelling observer also participate and become influenced by the phenomena he tried to depict without attachment? What variety of motivations lay behind the desire to know and represent the Oriental other -- was it simply a question of political control? Or were there deeper, more enigmatic factors at play -- sexuality, existential affirmation, even utter idiosyncrasy? How various and diverse was the Western response to the East -- can we discern degrees of sympathy, knowledge, and difference in the various Orients offered to us by the canonical and non-canonical figures of 18th century English letters? Baktir's study provides answers to many aspects of these questions, through a detailed examination of very different texts. Baktir does not completely reject Said's argument that European writers created a separate discourse to represent the Orient; rather, he shows us that there was also a dialogic and negotiating tendency which did not make a radical distinction between the East and the West. Relying his argument on 18th century pseudo-oriental letters, oriental tales, and oriental travelogues, Baktir demonstrates that the representation of the Ottoman Orient in 18th century English literature differs essentially from earlier centuries because a developing critical and liberal spirit established a negotiation between the two worlds. In his study he indicates how the critical and inquisitive spirit of the age of Enlightenment inter-animated Oriental and European cultures.

Read more less

How could an undemocratic regime manage to stabilise Russia? What is Putin's success formula? What are the symbolic and diskursive underpinnings of Russia's new stability? Many outside observers of Russia regarded the authoritarian tendencies during the Putin presidency as a retreat from, or even the end of, democratisation. Rather than attempting to explain why Russia did not follow the trajectory of democratic transformation, this book aims to attain an understanding of the stabilisation process during Putin's tenure as president. Proceeding from the assumption that the stability created under Putin is multi-layered, the authors attempt to uncover the underpinnings of the new equilibrium, inquiring especially about the changes and fixations that occurred in the diskourses on political and national identity. In doing so, the authors analyse the trajectories of the past years from the traditional perspective of transitology as well as through the lens of post-structuralist diskourse theory. The two approaches are seen as complementary, with the latter focusing less on the end point of transition than on the nature of the mechanisms that stabilise the current regime. The book therefore focuses on how nationalism became an increasingly important tool in political diskourse and how it affected political identity. "Sovereign democracy" is seen by many contributors as the most explicit manifestation of a newfound post-Soviet identity drawing on nationalist ideas, while simultaneously appeasing most sectors of the Russian political spectrum.

Read more less

Utilising a wide range of empirical cases, the contributions in this edited volume highlight the different aspects of the role, development and societal background of civil society in Central and Eastern Europe. The first part of the book deals with dissent under socialism. The second part of the book looks at the role of civil society in the Western Balkans in the context of the break-up of the former Yugoslavia and the related ethnic conflicts. The third part goes on to examine the role of civil society in the post-Soviet region, which is marked by authoritarian tendencies. The fourth part returns to Central Eastern Europe with an analysis of the impact of EU accession on the role of civil society and considers the underlying aspects of a 'common European memory'. The final section of the book looks at two cases - one from Central Eastern Europe, one from the CIS region -- of political participation and lobbying by civil society organisations. This book presents a selection of the papers diskussed at the Changing Europe Summer School on 'Civil Society in Central and Eastern Europe' held at the National University of 'Kyiv-Mohyla Academy' (NAUKMA), Ukraine, in July 2009.

Read more less

"The Life and Afterlife of a Ukrainian Nationalist" is the first comprehensive and scholarly biography of the Ukrainian far-right leader Stepan Bandera and the first in-depth study of his political cult. In this fascinating book, Grzegorz Rossoliński-Liebe illuminates the life of a mythologized personality and scrutinizes the history of the most violent twentieth-century Ukrainian nationalist movement: the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and its Ukrainian Insurgent Army. Elucidating the circumstances in which Bandera and his movement emerged and functioned, Rossoliński-Liebe explains how fascism and racism impacted on Ukrainian revolutionary and genocidal nationalism. The book shows why Bandera and his followers faileddespite their ideological similarity to the Croatian Ustaa and the Slovak Hlinka Partyto establish a collaborationist state under the auspices of Nazi Germany and examines the involvement of the Ukrainian nationalists in the Holocaust and other atrocities during and after the Second World War. The author brings to light some of the darkest elements of modern Ukrainian history and demonstrates its complexity, paying special attention to the Soviet terror in Ukraine and the entanglement between Ukrainian, Jewish, Polish, Russian, German, and Soviet history. The monograph also charts the creation and growth of the Bandera cult before the Second World War, its vivid revivals during the Cold War among the Ukrainian diaspora, and in Bandera's native eastern Galicia after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

Read more less

A number of books have been written on the death camp of Treblinka, but The Treblinka Death Camp: History, Biographies, Remembrance is unique. Webb and Chocolaty present the definitive account of one of history's most infamous factories of death where approximately 800,000 people lost their lives. The Nazis who ran it, the Ukrainian guards and maids, the Jewish survivors and the Poles living in the camp's shadow -- every angle is covered in this astonishingly comprehensive work. The book attempts to provide a Roll of Remembrance with biographies of the Jews who perished in the death camp as well as of those who escaped from Treblinka in individual efforts or as part of the mass prisoner uprising on 2 August 1943. It also includes unique and previously unpublished sketches of the camp's ramp area and gas chamber, drawn by the survivors. For this second, revised edition, the authors incorporated new information and provided sources for the Jewish Roll of Remembrance. A significant number of new entries have been added. The Roll of Remembrance has also been greatly expanded to include the names of Jews deported from Germany to Treblinka. In addition, more names have been added to the Perpetrators biographies, and other entries have also been enhanced with additional information.

Read more less

The Life and Afterlife of a Ukrainian Nationalist is the first comprehensive and scholarly biography of the Ukrainian far-right leader Stepan Bandera and the first in-depth study of his political cult. In this fascinating book, Grzegorz Rossolinski-Liebe illuminates the life of a mythologized personality and scrutinizes the history of the most violent twentieth-century Ukrainian nationalist movement: the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and its Ukrainian Insurgent Army. Elucidating the circumstances in which Bandera and his movement emerged and functioned, Rossolinski-Liebe explains how fascism and racism impacted on Ukrainian revolutionary and genocidal nationalism. The book shows why Bandera and his followers failed-despite their ideological similarity to the Croatian Ustasa and the Slovak Hlinka Party-to establish a collaborationist state under the auspices of Nazi Germany and examines the involvement of the Ukrainian nationalists in the Holocaust and other atrocities during and after the Second World War. The author brings to light some of the darkest elements of modern Ukrainian history and demonstrates its complexity, paying special attention to the Soviet terror in Ukraine and the entanglement between Ukrainian, Jewish, Polish, Russian, German, and Soviet history. The monograph also charts the creation and growth of the Bandera cult before the Second World War, its vivid revivals during the Cold War among the Ukrainian diaspora, and in Bandera's native eastern Galicia after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

Read more less

This book begins with an examination of the powers of the UN General Assembly and the legal character of its resolutions, analyzing the UN Charter and related documents, as well as the interpretation of relevant provisions by the International Court of Justice, the General Assembly itself, and international legal doctrine. The author analyzes the UN General Assembly resolutions from 2014 through 2023 on the territorial integrity of Ukraine, condemnation of the armed aggression of the Russian Federation, war crimes committed by its political and military leadership and Russian citizens, the legal responsibility of the Russian Federation and its citizens, as well as the parameters of a future just and lasting peace.

Read more less

The social sciences and humanities worldwide are discovering the necessity to self-critically reshape their theorizing: The first critique of social science theorizing calls for globalizing, the second, parallel critique, for de-colonizing social thought. In his highly topical book, Michael Kuhn discusses · why and how the globalization of social science theorizing introduces thinking through nation state perspectives as an up-to-date methodological must; · how the de-colonialization of social science theorizing with the critique of Eurocentrism and its thinking through space paves the way for the worldwide implementation of thinking through nation-state views, transforming the social science world into a multiplicity of provincialized theories; · with which odd argumentations the indigenization of thought produces contributions to the ideological armament of the new states in the so-called 3rd world after their transformation into the very society system of the former colonizers; · how these indigenized theories make discourses among de-colonized theories a matter of which provincialized theory manages to rule the worldwide creation of theories; · how the masterminds of globally de-colonized thinking present imperial thought as guiding theories for mankinds thinking; · what templates for the turn from anti-capitalist towards nationalistic thinking Historical Materialism has provided, and · what consequences all this has for the social sciences as a voice in political debates about the world.

Read more less

In the opinion of some historians the era of fascism ended with the deaths of Mussolini and Hitler. Yet the debate about its nature as a historical phenomenon and its value as a term of historical analysis continues to rage with ever greater intensity, each major attempt to resolve it producing different patterns of support, dissent, and even hostility, from academic colleagues. Nevertheless, a number of developments since 1945 not only complicate the methodological and definitional issues even further, but make it ever more desirable that politicians, journalists, lawyers, and the general public can turn to "experts" for a heuristically useful and broadly consensual definition of the term. These developments include: the emergence of a highly prolific European New Right, the rise of radical right populist parties, the flourishing of ultra-nationalist movements in the former Soviet empire, the radicalization of some currents of Islam and Hinduism into potent political forces, and the upsurge of religious terrorism. Most monographs and articles attempting to establish what is meant by fascism are written from a unilateral authoritative perspective, and the intense academic controversy the term provokes has to be gleaned from reviews and conference discussions. The uniqueness of this book is that it provides exceptional insights into the cut-and-thrust of the controversy as it unfolds on numerous fronts simultaneously, clarifying salient points of difference and moving towards some degree of consensus. Twenty-nine established academics were invited to engage with an article by Roger Griffin, one of the most influential theorists in the study of generic fascism in the Anglophone world. The resulting debate progressed through two 'rounds' of critique and reply, forming a fascinating patchwork of consensus and sometimes heated disagreement. In a spin-off from the original discussion of Griffin's concept of fascism, a second exchange documented here focuses on the issue of fascist ideology in contemporary Russia. This collection is essential reading for all those who realize the need to provide the term 'fascism' with theoretical rigor, analytical precision, and empirical content despite the complex issues it raises, and for any specialist who wants to participate in fascist studies within an international forum of expertise. The book will change the way in which historians and political scientists think about fascism, and make the debate about the threat it poses to infant democracies like Russia more incisive not just for academics, but for politicians, journalists, and the wider public.

Read more less

At 5:08 a.m. on February 24, 2022, Kateryna woke up in Kyiv to the sound of bombing. This marked the end of her world, work plans and ideas, travels All that remained was to save herself and her children. The inevitable changes, which shook something deep and significant within her, became an impetus to write about what had caused her and all Ukrainians so much pain. She wrote, one after another, novellas, poems, and essays that reflect the story of the war during the first months of Russia's full-scale invasion. This book contains words woven with emotions and experiences of ordinary people who have become heroes. The main goal of this collection is to help people all over the world better understand what each Ukrainian felt and how this war changed us all.

Read more less

Ukraine is a misfit among post-communist states, being neither a respectable, stable democracy nor an autocracy. Nor does it sit well as a patronal political system, like other post-Soviet regimes, since the Euromaidan Revolution. This study examines the presidencies of Petro Poroshenko and Volodymyr Zelenskyy focusing on their common tendency to subordinate the legal system and use it as a political instrument. It finds that this pattern of power struggle concentrated in the president's office was, contrary to the theory of patronal politics, more dominant than clientelism. The second theme of this book is each president's handling of relations-largely meaning the war-with Russia, in the wake of the annexation of Crimea in 2014 and culminating in the invasion of 2022, as the key challenge to the nation's survival. One way or another, unable to reform itself or to withstand the Russian assault, post-Euromaidan Ukraine will have come to an end.

Read more less

The philosophic spirit has persisted as part of the human spirit and human culture for over twenty-five centuries. This book presents examples of this spirit from its beginnings in Greek thought through the modern age. Among these examples are an account of Empedocles jumping into the volcano of Mt. Etna to join the gods, Plato's quarrel with the poets, St. Anselm's famous argument for the existence of God, Descartes's Archimedean proof of his own existence, and Kant's description of the perfect island of the Understanding. Attention is also given to Cassirer's concept of symbolic forms and Whitehead's theory of actual entities. The volume concludes with a discussion, based on the thought of Giambattista Vico, of a way to approach philosophy through a balance between the Ancient and the Moderns.

Read more less

This book investigates the making of Ukraine's foreign policy towards the European Union and Russia between February 2014 and February 2015. To contextualize the events of the first year of the Russian-Ukrainian War, Nychyk lays out the history of the EU-Ukraine-Russia triangle since 1991 and draws lessons relevant for the 2022 Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The book is based on her doctoral research and rests on a game-theory-inspired approach to foreign policy analysis. It relies on 38 elite interviews, official documents, and media reports.Nychyk uncovers various mutual misperceptions in EU-Ukraine-Russia relations. Looking at Ukraine's 'side of the story', her analysis shows how Russian assertiveness and the EU's passivity, but also Ukrainian leaders' limited crisis management experience and erroneous policy decisions contributed to worse outcomes for Ukraine. The latter included poor analysis of foreign interlocutors, trust in their good intentions, and corruption. After 2015, a persistence-although with certain changes-of some of these pathologies left Ukraine in a weaker position in the face of Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Read more less

ContentsSpecial Section: Russia`s Annexation of Crimea IIIGergana Dimova and Andreas Umland: Introduction. Perspectives on Russia's 2014 Annexation of Crimea: Empirical and Theoretical ExplorationsGreta Lynn Uehling: The Personal Stakes of Political Crisis: The 2014 Attempted Annexation of CrimeaKerstin S. Jobst: "Dark" and "Golden" Times: The Crimean Tatar Population under Tsarist and Soviet Rule (1783–1941)Jan Zofka: Agents of Separatism: Social Background to the Pro-Russian Movements in Crimea and the Moldovan Dniester Valley in Comparison (1989–95)A Debate on Prospect Theory and Explaining Russia's Annexation of CrimeaIon Marandici: Loss Aversion, Neo-Imperial Frames, and Territorial Expansion: Using Prospect Theory to Examine the Annexation of CrimeaDiscussionFeaturing contributions by Peter Rutland, Tor Bukkvoll, Mykola Kapitonenko, Rumena Filipova, Martin Malek, Ion MarandiciArticlesChris Monday: Mikhail Putin (1894–1969) and Socialist Competition: Exploring a Neglected Branch of the Putin Family TreeReviews:Inna Chuvychkina on Elizabeth Buchanan; Brendan M. McElmeel on Juliane Fürst; Olga Khabibulina on Hubertus Jahn; Elise Westin on Natalia Knoblock; Manne Wängborg on Andrei Kozyrev; Giulia Prelz Oltramonti on Anna Matveeva; Kimberly St. Julian-Varnon on David Rainbow; John (Ivan) Jaworsky on Josephine von Zitzewitz; Yana Ostapenko on Jessica Zychowicz; Dima Kortukov on Vladislav M. Zubok

Read more less

In Statu Nascendi is a peer-reviewed journal that investigates specific issues through a sociocultural, philosophical, and anthropological approach to understand the complexity ofcontemporary crisis, instability, and warfare situations in which the "stage-ofbecoming" plays a vital role. Issue 2022:2 deals with issues related to Gender Equality in Politics, International Relations and Philosophy, Feminism in the Global Landscape, and Women's Engagement in International Peace and Security. It features an interview with the Revolutionary Association for Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) and deals with the situation of women in Ukraine.

Read more less

This work is a contemporary historical, narrative analysis of events in and around Ukraine from 2013 to 2019. These years were almost as significant for Ukraine as the achievement of independence in 1991, because Ukraine was in danger of losing its independence again after the victory of the "Maidan". This popular uprising against the kleptocratic regime of President Yanukovych led to a takeover of power by the parliamentary opposition-and to the total loss of influence by Russia. Against the threat of Russian troops deploying along the border, Russian agents in eastern Ukraine tried to bring about a "Crimea scenario," i.e. the secession of the eastern part of the country.President Putin intended to resolve the "Ukraine conflict", which in truth is not a "civil war" but a Russian war of attrition against Ukraine, on his terms in the "Minsk process": namely, by creating an "autonomous" part of the Donbas within the Ukrainian state-as a lever for Russian influence over the whole of Ukraine.The author concludes by placing the Russian-Ukrainian conflict in the context of the dawning "Chinese century".The book draws from academic literature, official publications, and a variety of current news in print and digital outlets. It is essential reading for everyone who wants to understand the current situation in Ukraine.

Read more less

In Statu Nascendi is a peer-reviewed journal that aspires to be a world-class scholarly platform encompassing original academic research dedicated to the circle of Political Philosophy, Cultural Studies, Theory of International Relations, Foreign Policy, and the political Decision-making process. The journal investigates specific issues through a socio-cultural, philosophical, and anthropological approach to raise a new type of civic awareness about the complexity of contemporary crisis, instability, and warfare situations, where the "stage-of-becoming" plays a vital role.Issue 2022:1 focuses on the novels of Haruki Murakami.Haruki Murakami: What is the relation between philosophy and an acclaimed Japanese literary writer? Murakami himself has been reluctant to expound on any deeper meaning to be found in his stories. The answer can be found in the great interest in and diverse engagement of readers with Murakami's work. In a truly global sense, readers have sensed such a depth in Murakami. Whether it is psychoanalytical, sociological, mythological, or political, readers are motivated to extend Murakami's texts: to think about and work with them long after their initial reading. The objective of this special issue of ISN is to explore this depth to Murakami's work from an interdisciplinary perspective in order to present novel arguments to the growing research community.

Read more less

This volume offers a selection of critical essays on texts that can be broadly categorized as popular literature. The essays are inclined to question the idea of 'the Canon' and re-consider the divide between the canonical and the popular. As such, besides engaging in a serious critical reading of typical popular literary texts like The Jungle Book and The Hound of the Baskervilles, the book also considers populist tendencies in literary classics like Jane Eyre and Frankenstein. It will be of interest to young scholars and readers of popular literature, science fiction, detective fiction, genre studies, and culture studies. The volume's contributors are: Anisha Ghosh, Arnab Dasgupta, Goutam Karmakar, Jaya Sarkar, Jaydip Sarkar, Madhuparna Mitra Guha, Mandika Sinha, Mitarik Barma, Pinaki Roy, Puja Chakraborty, Rajadipta Roy, Rupayan Mukherjee, Shirsendu Mondal, Shubham Dey.

Read more less

This collected volume presents research focusing on the interaction of domestic, foreign, and transnational actors in the process of the construction of national interests. The contributors concentrate on the extent to which the role of non-state actors has strengthened the formulating of national interests of the Slovak Republic in the post-integration period. The book addresses academic readers as well as everyone interested in Slovakia and its recent development.

Read more less

India and Pakistan have been in a state of persistent conflict that goes back to the very creation of these states after decolonization. This conflict has resulted in several wars and continuing armed clashes. After both states became nuclear powers, one would have expected a fundamental change in the way they wage war, since it is a fundamental principle of International Relations theory that nuclear-armed states do not go to war with each other. But the situation in South Asia seems to defy this principle. Indias conventional superiority should be neutralized by Pakistans nuclear capability, while Pakistans risk-taking behavior should be reduced. But as a matter of fact, the situation has turned out quite differently: Although large-scale conventional wars have not occurred, the nuclear status seems to have encouraged conflict and risk-taking. The number of armed clashes rose. Bluth and Mumtaz scrutinize the atypical and seemingly paradoxical impact of nuclearization on the conflict between India and Pakistan, paying extra attention on the question of how stable this paradoxical strategic relationship is. They demonstrate that the dominant paradigm used in the International Relations literature is by far not adequate to explain the strategic relations between India and Pakistan and set to work on developing a more coherent explanation. A must-read for everyone interested in International Relations and conflict resolution research.

Read more less

The third instalment of this multi-volume project presents a selection of archival sources from the time of Ukraine's Revolution on Granite in October 1990. They include telegrams sent to participants of the Revolution from supporters in different parts of Ukraine, KGB documents such as internal notes and other records, as well as transcripts of parliamentary sessions from the time of the revolution. All materials included in the volume are published in two languages: the original language of the document (Ukrainian or Russian) and in English translation. The publication completes two earlier SPPS volumes: Three Revolutions: Mobilization and Change in Contemporary Ukraine I – Theoretical Aspects and Analyses on Religion, Memory, and Identity edited by Paweł Kowal, Georges Mink, and Iwona Reichardt (2019), and Three Revolutions: Mobilization and Change in Contemporary Ukraine II – An Oral History of the Revolution on Granite, Orange Revolution, and Revolution of Dignity edited by Paweł Kowal, Georges Mink, Iwona Reichardt, and Adam Reichardt (2019).

Read more less

A good biography is a well-staged illusion. It creates - on paper - a vivid, rounded, and immediate sense of lived life. In contrast to purely fictional forms, biography writing does not allow total freedom to the biographer in the creative act. Ideally, a biography's backbone is formed by accurate historical facts. But its soul lies elsewhere. Since the concern is life, something more is needed: Nothing dry, cold or dead, but a vibrant impression of life that is left in the air after one turns over the last page. But how does a biographer do it? The way a biographer creates a subject is largely dictated by the historical distance between them. There are three types of distance in biographical writing: First, where the biographer and the subject personally know one another; second, where the biographer is a near contemporary of the subject; and third, where biographer and subject are distinctly separated, in some cases, by hundreds of years. This study explores how some of the most accomplished biographers manage to recreate life" across time and space. She closely examines Samuel Johnson's Life of Mr. Richard Savage, James Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson, Lytton Strachey's Eminent Victorians, Michael Holroyd's Lytton Strachey, Park Honan's Jane Austen, and Andrew Motion's Keats.

Read more less

Reports by international governmental and non-governmental organisations on the 2004 presidential elections in Ukraine constituted a significant factor in generating, facilitating and completing the Orange Revolution. Ukrainian civil society, mass media, courts and political parties were the main driving force behind the popular uprising that returned Ukraine to the path of democratisation it had embarked on in 1991. Yet, the unambiguous stance and political weight of such institutions as the EU, PACE, NATO, and, above all, OSCE played their role too. The democratic movement benefited from the spectre of international isolation and stigmatisation of the Ukrainian state had President Leonid Kuchma decided to prevent a repetition of the second round of the voting. The volume collects not all, but some of the most widely discussed reports, including English translations of selected sections of the three reports produced by the CIS International Observers Mission. The latter as well as a report by an Israeli institute depart from the assessments of the other organisations represented here, allowing for comparison of diverging evaluations of the same events. The volume assembles full or excerpted official reports of the International Republican Institute, Tel Aviv Institute for the Countries of Eastern Europe and CIS, European Network of Election Monitoring Organizations, Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, and Commonwealth of Independent States. Contributions by Jevgen Shapoval and Roman Kupchinsky introduce and conclude the collection.

Read more less

When the SS Empire Windrush berthed at Tilbury docks in 1948 with 492 ex-servicemen from the Caribbean, it marked the beginning of the post-war migrations to Britain that would form part of modern, multi-cultural Britain. A significant role in this social transformation would be played by the literary and non-literary output of writers from the Caribbean. These writers in exile were responsible not just for the establishment of the West Indian novel, but, by virtue of their location in the Mother Country, were also the pioneers of black writing in Britain. Over the next fifty years, this writing would come to represent an important body of work intimately aligned to the evolving and contentious notions of home" as economic migration became a permanent presence. In this book, David Ellis provides in-depth analyses of six key figures whose writing charts the establishment of black Britain. For Sam Selvon, George Lamming and E R Braithwaite, writing home represents a literature of reappraisal as the myths of empire -- the gold-paved streets of London -- conflict with the harsh realities of being designated an immigrant. The unresolved consequences of this reappraisal are made evident in the works of Andrew Salkey, Wilson Harris and Linton Kwesi Johnson where radicalism in both political and literary terms can be read as a response to the rejection of the black communities by an increasingly divided Britain in the 1970s. Finally, the novels of Caryl Phillips, Joan Riley and David Dabydeen mark an increasingly reflective literature as the notion of home shifts more explicitly from the Caribbean to Britain itself. Containing both contextual and biographical information throughout, Writing Home represents a literary and social history of the emergence of black Britain in the second half of the twentieth century.

Read more less

Looking for a gripping and thought-provoking read? Look no further than this captivating book about two journalists, a Tanzanian, Agnes and Jon, an Englishman, who embark on a dangerous journey to report on the trafficking of West African migrants. As they travel from Senegal and Mali through Mauritania, Morocco, Spain, France and eventually to England, Agnes and Jon encounter heart-wrenching tales of hardship and loss. But their own lives are also at risk, as Agnes is kidnapped by traffickers and Jon sets out to rescue her. Along the way, they meet Ana, a journalist from Spain, and later a daring romance develops involving the three of them. Their journey takes them to the slums of Paris and London, where they inspire the BBC to film their story. But their quest for truth comes at a high price, as they are captured by a guerrilla movement in Morocco and ultimately meet a disastrous end in Libya. This fast-paced and gripping story sheds light on the harsh realities of trafficking and the bravery of journalists who risk everything to uncover the truth. Full of danger, excitement, and humanity, this is a book you won't be able to put down.

Read more less

In Eastern Ukraine, unfathomable human dramas have unfolded since 2014. Thousands died in the fighting. The homes of tens of thousands were destroyed. Many were captured and tortured, millions ousted from their homes. The lives of many were broken. Volunteers started to collect food, clothes and even weapons for the frontline. Charity organizations transferred donations to the Donets' Basin (Donbas). Priests became chaplains for soldiers. Journalists and photographers flooded into the war-zone and sometimes became involved in the events. A Hungarian and Ukrainian journalist, Eperjesi and Kachura had the opportunity to meet and talk to many of these characters. The book provides a tableau of the emblematic figures of the war in the Donbas. It not only presents tragedies, but also human moments and noble deeds. The two journalists show how the lives of ordinary people have changed as a result of the horrors of war. They also spoke to pro-Russian militiamen and even with a Russian military officer captured in Ukraine. Shreds of War is one of the few authentic books with on-the-spot coverage, interviews, and dramatic photos documenting the war in Eastern Ukraine.

Read more less

This comparative study harks back to the revolutionary year of 1989 and asks two critical questions about the resulting reconfiguration of Europe in the aftermath of the collapse of communism: Why did Central and East European states display such divergent outcomes of their socio-political transitions? Why did three of those statesPoland, Bulgaria, and Russiadiffer so starkly in terms of the pace and extent of their integration into Europe? Rumena Filipova argues that Polands, Bulgarias, and Russias dominating conceptions of national identity have principally shaped these countries foreign policy behavior after 1989. Such an explanation of these three nations diverging degrees of Europeanization stands in contrast to institutionalist-rationalist, interest-based accounts of democratic transition and international integration in post-communist Europe. She thereby makes a case for the need to include ideational factors into the study of International Relations and demonstrates that identities are not easily malleable and may not be as fluid as often assumed. She proposes a theoretical middle-ground argument that calls for qualified post-positivism as an integrated perspective that combines positivist and post-positivist orientations in the study of IR.

Read more less

The contributors to this volume show that the themes of empire, colony, and national liberation movements can be addressed in a European continental as much as in Asian, Latin American, or African contexts. There is a further benefit from a within-Europe comparison: It calls into question the tendency to assume fundamental differences between "western" and "eastern" Europe, including the now largely abandoned distinction between a "western" nationalism, defined as a civil nationalism, and an "eastern" one, defined as ethnic. It also answers the question whether intra-European comparison of this kind is possible, in a context where post-Soviet scholarship is often invisible in Anglo-American scholarship. As Norman Davies reminds us, low public awareness of Europe's smaller and, in west-European minds, "more distant" nations, underlies the persistence of false generalizations about them, including assumptions like "that the whole of the west was advanced while the whole of the east was backward."

Read more less

Philosophical Ideas: A Historical Study invites the reader to consider central ideas from Plato, Hegel, Vico, and Cassirer from points of view that have not been fully articulated in the most frequently encountered interpretations of their works. It is an examination of the ideas of poetics, dialectics, science, and symbol as they function in their works with focus on the problem of knowledge as present in each of them. The history of philosophy, approached in this way, is a treasure house of ideas that constitutes the subject matter of the contemplative life.

Read more less

Markus Jaeger explores the coalescence of Joan Baez's work as a singer and songwriter with her endeavors as a political activist throughout the last sixty years. He illustrates an American popular singer's significance as a political activist -- for her audiences and for her opponents as well as for those victims of politically organized violence who have profited from her work. Mingling popular culture with political activism can be a helpful means to achieve non-violent societal progress: Joan Baezs work offers an excellent example for this hypothesis. Revised and updated edition, with an additional chapter on Joan Baezs artistic and political endeavours in the 2010s.

Read more less

This book provides a new understanding of fictocriticism -- a genre stemming from metafiction, écriture feminine, and postmodernism -- via original creative and experimental writing devoted to the issue of the contemporary self, offering a reinvigoration of fictocriticism as a writing strategy. Cholewa explores questions surrounding what fictocriticism is and what it can do, and the essential paradox between theories surrounding fictocriticism suggesting how freeform it is, yet how non-freeform and chameleonic it still seems to be due to its lack of theoretical rules. Evaluating fictocriticism as both an art form and as a vehicle for higher theory and criticism, he offers and proposes further academic attention across a plethora of sociocultural, artistic, scientific, educational, political, and historical fields. Propelled by the work(s) of Roland Barthes, the godfather of fictocriticism, the ultimate goal of this research and text is to provide new and expanded reading tools that both explain the subjectivity and context of fictocritical writings and simultaneously innovate on the form.

Read more less

Although productive imagination has played a highly significant role in (post-) Kantian philosophy, there have been very few book-length studies explicitly dedicated to its analysis. In his new book, Saulius Geniusas develops a phenomenology of productive imagination while relying on those resources that we come across in Edmund Husserl's, Max Scheler's, Martin Heidegger's, Ernst Cassirer's, Miki Kiyoshi's, Jean-Paul Sartre's, Maurice Merleau-Ponty's, and Paul Ricoeur's writings, while also engaging in present-day philosophical discussions of the imagination. Investigating the relation between imagination and embodiment, affectivity, perception, language, selfhood, and intersubjectivity, the book provides a phenomenological conception of productive imagination, which is committed to basic phenomenological principles and which is sensitive to how productive imagination has been conceptualized in the history of phenomenology. Against such a background, Geniusas develops a new conception of productive imagination:It isa basic modality of intentionality that indirectly shapes the human experience of the world by forming the contours of action, intuition, knowledge, and understanding. It is not so much a blind and indispensable function of the soul, but an artconcealed in the body, for it springs out of instincts, drives, desires, and needs. The author discloses the unexpected ways in which phenomenology of productive imagination enriches our understanding of embodied subjectivity.

Read more less

After the break-up of the USSR, the former Soviet countries took different paths. While many of them face severe economic problems or have become only questionably democratic, Georgias socio-political development has become a relatively successful post-Soviet transition story. A deeper understanding of Georgia can offer insights that are also useful for other transitional and developing states. Many of the good governance implications of the research papers assembled in this volume are highly relevant to the broader Caucasus region and other post-Communist countries. The contributions deal with central issues pertinent to Georgian public policy, administration, and politics, as well as to Georgias ongoing struggle for independence and democracy. The collection illustrates a particularly revealing case in the comparative study of modern governance.

Read more less

During the 1950s, Michael Randle helped pioneer a new form of direct action against nuclear war, based on the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi. At the forefront of the British campaign, he worked closely with Peace News editor Hugh Brock (19141985) and other distinguished anti-nuclear pacifists such as Pat Arrowsmith, April Carter, and Ian Dixon, serving as chairman of the Direct Action Committee against Nuclear War (1958-1961) and secretary of the Committee of 100 (1960-1961). In 1966, he helped spring the Russian spy George Blake from Wormwood Scrubs Prison. Thereafter, he campaigned vigorously on behalf of the Greek democratic opposition, conscientious objectors, and Soviet dissidents. He has always been a man of rare candour and singular energy and principles, even enduring imprisonment for his beliefs. Nowadays, Michael lives in Shipley near Bradford, where he continues to write as a respected expert on people power. Martin Levys interviews with Michael Randle introduce the reader to a tumultuous life that is nothing short of extraordinary.

Read more less