Conclusion: Nowhere nation or better life? Ukraine’s past and future

2012 ◽  
Vol 45 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 457-459
Author(s):  
Paul D’Anieri
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Relative Weight ◽  
Objective Analysis ◽  
The Political ◽  
Structural Factors ◽  
Soviet History ◽  
Agent Based ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Political Situation ◽  
Soviet Legacy

All the authors in this collection of essays on Ukrainian politics stress the lack of improvement in the political situation in recent years. The authors identify a range of reasons including pre-Soviet history, the Soviet legacy, national identity, and political gridlock. While the authors disagree slightly on the extent to which change is impossible or merely difficulty, none is hopeful. The challenge for scholars is to avoid moving from objective analysis to assigning political blame. Some authors identify specific political actors on whom they fix blame, while others focus on less personal structural factors. The relative weight of structure-based and agent-based explanations is important in assessing the prospects for change in the future, and the possible paths to it.

scholarly journals Japan’s Diplomatic Proactive Stance towards Indochina and the Cambodian Problem (1970)

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Oliviero Frattolillo
Keyword(s):  
Diplomatic History ◽  
Political Agenda ◽  
The Political ◽  
Historical Evidence ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Political Situation ◽  
Foreign Politics

Abstract This article assesses the Japanese diplomatic contribution through the prism of the Indochinese political situation in the early 1970s. The traditional literature depicts Japan’s non-existent proactivism in postwar foreign politics, based on its alleged unconditional dependence on Washington’s political agenda. However, throughout the 1970s there were occasions in which the country showed how it was independently engaged at a diplomatic level. This has often been overlooked by the literature produced in the field, but it is an irrefutable conclusion from the historical evidence and the analysis of the archival sources. Japan’s diplomatic commitment in solving the problem of peace in Cambodia, its double effort as a diplomatic intermediary between the political actors involved in the Indochinese issue and, at the same time, through the ODA policy, may offer the missing elements for a no longer univocal interpretation of its postwar diplomatic history—which is the aim of this essay.

scholarly journals The Spanish Plurinational Labyrinth. Practical Reasons for Criticising the Nationalist Bias of Others While Ignoring One’s Own Nationalist Position

Genealogy ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 7
Author(s):  
Carmelo Moreno
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
The Political ◽  
Practical Reasons ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Political Consequences ◽  
Political Discourses ◽  
National Question ◽  
Political Cost ◽  
Suitable Concept ◽  
The Relationship

To analyse the Spanish national question requires considering the relationship between the idea of the nation and the phenomenon of nationalism on one side, and the question of political plurality on the other. The approval of the Constitutional text 40 years ago was achieved thanks to a delicate semantic balancing act concerning the concept of nation, whose interpretation remains open. Academic studies of public opinion, such as the famous Linz-Moreno Question—also known as Moreno Question—that measures the possible mixture of Spanish subjective national identity, are equally the object of wide controversy. The extent to which political plurinationality is a suitable concept for defining the country is not clear because, amongst other reasons, the political consequences that might derive from adopting the concept are unknown. This article sets out the thesis that Spain is a plurinational labyrinth since there is neither consensus nor are there discursive strategies that might help in forming an image of the country in national terms. The paradox of this labyrinth is that, since the approval of the Constitution in 1978, the political actors have accepted that nationality in Spain is insoluble without taking the plurinational idea into account. But, at the same time, it is not easy to assume such plurinationality in practical terms because the political cost to those actors that openly defend national plurality is very high. For this reason, political discourses in Spain on the national question offer a highly ambiguous scenario, where the actors seek windows of opportunity and are reluctant to take risks in order to solve this puzzle situation. The aim of this paper is to analyse which indicators are most efficient for testing how the different actors position themselves facing the phenomenon of the Spanish plurinational labyrinth. The clearest examples are what we refer to here as the concepts of (i) intersubjective national identity and (ii) plurinational governments.

scholarly journals The Сelebration of the First Anniversary of the October Revolution and the Red Terror: Legitimizing of Revolutionary Violence

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 976-988
Author(s):  
K. V. Godunov ◽  
Keyword(s):  
October Revolution ◽  
The Political ◽  
Soviet History ◽  
Political Situation ◽  
Revolutionary Violence ◽  
Ruling Party ◽  
The Revolution

The author explores how attitudes toward the Red Terror and activities of the Cheka were manifested during celebrations of the first anniversary of the October Revolution. Based on a study of speeches by Bolshevik leaders, propaganda materials related to the festival, discussions at various levels, and characteristics about the holiday provided by opponents and enemies of the ruling party, the author demonstrates what arguments were used for legitimation and delegitimation of the Red Terror. The author analyzes the discussion by D. B. Ryazanov and G. E. Zinovev on the correlation of terror and the holiday; characterizes the position of V. I. Lenin and other prominent Bolsheviks who used the holiday as a resource to discuss the powers of the Cheka; and describes positions of opponents to the Bolsheviks. The significance of one of the first political amnesties in Soviet history, dedicated to the celebration of the October Revolution, is described. Prominent Bolsheviks perceived the role of terror in the revolution in different ways: if V. I. Lenin and G. E. Zinovev, in the struggle to strengthen their influence, were insistent on the need to deepen terror, D. B. Ryazanov insisted that the scope of repressive politics should be limited, and L. B. Kamenev lobbied for amnesties. All of them used the celebration of the first anniversary of October to implement their projects. Research on the linkage between the Red Terror and the holiday provide insights into the specifics of the political situation in the autumn of 1918.

scholarly journals Reflections on 1989

Focaal ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 2010 (58) ◽  
pp. 105-108 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Ost
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Political Situation ◽  
Political Events

Perhaps the most surprising part of my recollection of 1989 is to recall the large part of it that was not surprising at all. Because nothing had gotten back to “normal” in Poland in the 1980s, the political events of that decade always happened with Solidarity as the “other.” Because the political situation never seemed resolved, it was always in flux. What happened in 1989 was thus treated initially as part of that flux, by me and by Polish political actors themselves.

scholarly journals On the Identification of So-Called “Meskhetian Turks”

2019 ◽  
pp. 162-171
Author(s):  
Tina Ivelashvili
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Ethnic Composition ◽  
The Political ◽  
New Order ◽  
Muslim Population ◽  
Political Situation ◽  
International Agencies ◽  
History Of ◽  
Multiethnic Population

Introduction. The problem of repatriation of the Muslim population, so-called “Meskhetian Turks” exiled in 1944 from Samtskhe-Javakheti and acceptance of their national identity has long worried Georgian people. The opinions on this subject vary drastically. Depending on the political situation, this issue periodically emerges (possibly deliberately) as a controversy. Comparison and analysis of currently available written sources, special and general literature, documents, recently studied ethnographic materials finally provide an opportunity to define who the “Meskhetian Turks” are. In addition, they reveal who is benefiting from using this artificially created term and for what purpose. Methods and materials. The materials concerning these problems and their classification are based on the methods developed by Ac.G. Chitaia, the founder of Georgian Ethnographic School. They contain different methods of complex-intensive as well as generalization and historical characters. Analysis. Muslimized population (Tarakams, Kurds, Turks, and later Georgian Muslims) mostly lived in Akhalkalaki and Akhaltsikhe provinces before the exile. Prior to 1940, the religious and ethnic composition of the population was rather diverse. This area was inhabited by indigenous Christians and partly Islamized Georgians. They were later joined by sheltered Kurds, Turks, Armenians and Karapapakhs. Calling them “Meskhetian Turks” has a specific purpose and the term is artificially spread in Georgian society. This type of action does not happen in any other country. One may wonder if various governmental, non-governmental and international agencies that have appeared in Georgia like mushrooms after the rain, know about this fact. Or, maybe they know it but under the influence of the governing forces of “the new order” and wholesome funding they deliberately destroy the national identity and integrity of the centuries-old history of the Georgian nation. One should use the term “Muslimized Meskhetians” but never “Meskhetian Turks” (the diverse tribal muslim population exiled from Samtskhe-Javakheti) to refer to the population of several million indigenous muslimized Georgians who are living on their historic territory (Tao-Klarjeti, Kola- Artaani, Shavsheti, Lazistan, etc.), currently Turkey. Results. The research process highlights the following: according to the results of the study, it becomes possible to develop a number of recommendations which will help the multiethnic population of Samtskhe-Javakhethi live in a peaceful way and accelerate the adaptation and integration processes.

Guinea-Bissau deadlock will threaten fragile growth

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Political Instability ◽  
Cape Verde ◽  
Military Coup ◽  
The Political ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Political Situation ◽  
Court Action ◽  
The Government ◽  
Ruling Party

Significance A month previously, the ECOWAS had reiterated its displeasure over the lack of progress in resolving the ongoing political impasse and issued an ultimatum to political actors to implement the 2016 Conakry Agreement or face sanctions. The UN has also threatened to initiate punitive measures if the political situation deteriorates further between President Jose Mario Vaz and his ruling party, the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC). Impacts Given the risk of a military coup, ECOWAS is likely to retain some of its troops until after the 2018 legislative election. A court action by two banks against the government could endanger IMF loans and donors' budgetary support. Ongoing political instability could lead to increased activities by organised criminal and terrorist networks.

History, the Peasantry, and the Polish Nation in the Thought of Michal Bobrzyński

1998 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 249-264 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip Pajakowski
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
National Identity ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Political Activity ◽  
The Political ◽  
Historical Imagination ◽  
Political Situation ◽  
National Community ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Face

The most important historical works of today are those that take the past of a single nation and state as their subject, for the nation and the state are the highest natural, independently developing organism that humanity has yet achieved.Like most nineteenth-century historians, Michal Bobrzyński directed his research to the study of his nation's past and especially to the development of political institutions. History, for him, served to enhance a sense of nationhood among his readers by deriving lessons from the experience of the national community and providing a basis for present political activity. As a politically engaged historian, Bobrzyński faced serious issues of the need to reorient Polish national identity and to refashion the historical imagination to meet the needs of his people in the face of the political situation in the last three decades of the nineteenth century.

The Crimean war of 1853–1856 in the modern British literature: evolution of the Russian myth

2021 ◽  
pp. 32-39
Author(s):  
Olga A. Moskalenko ◽  
◽  
Aleksandr A. Irkhin
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Great Britain ◽  
British Literature ◽  
Literary Analysis ◽  
The Political ◽  
Crimean War ◽  
Cultural Consciousness ◽  
Political Situation ◽  
The Core ◽  
Modern British Literature

The article considers the problem of the emergence and development of images of Russia and Russians in the cultural consciousness of Great Britain in the period of the Crimean War of 1853–1856, which played an important role in shaping the national identity of the British through the opposition of “Our” to “Other”. Based on historical and literary analysis, the authors identify the basic components of the myth of Russia and Russians in British literature during the Crimean War: a hostile territory where three very different ethnotypes (Tatars, Cossacks and Russians) exist quite independently, the absolute tyranny of Tzar and the slavish essence of Russians. The created myth of the Crimean War justifies the imperial “moral interventionism” of Great Britain, which implies the protection of the weak from the strong and visually enshrined in the images of the Russian bear. The intensity of the negative assessment of Russia and Russians is dependent on the political situation, nevertheless, Sevastopol stands out in the space of the Russian myth and is represented as topos, which does not receive any negative assessment and evolves to the level of the core of the myth of Russia both past and present.

scholarly journals THE INFLUENCE OF RELIGIOSITY ON THE POLITICAL CHOICE OF ORTHODOX BELIEVERS IN RUSSIA: THE CASE OF LIPETSK OBLAST

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 85-97
Author(s):  
Juliya Karpich ◽  
Keyword(s):  
The Political ◽  
Russian Orthodox ◽  
Religious Groups ◽  
Political Choice ◽  
Political Issues ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Political Situation ◽  
Research Assumptions ◽  
Depth Interviews

This paper presents the outcomes of empirical research on the religiosity influence on the political choice of Russian Orthodox believers. The research assumptions: (1) political choice is determined by a combination of individual beliefs, practice, and identity each can be both religious and secular; (2) secular beliefs play a key role in political choice; beliefs can help to evaluate the behaviour of political actors and voters' ability to influence the political situation. In-depth interviews with Orthodox believers are used as data (Lipetsk Oblast, 2019-2020). The research has revealed that a religious component in a combination of beliefs, practices, and identities varies depending on the level of religiosity. Beliefs are more important for the most and the least religious groups. Specifically, beliefs on the importance of political issues and the role of morality in political actors' behaviour. In combination with secular beliefs, they lead to protest voting and absenteeism. The choice of the middle group is influenced by religious practices. The combination of religious and secular practices can turn political participation into a habit.

Ein Ende mit Schrecken – Frankreich nach den Wahlen

2017 ◽  
Vol 47 (188) ◽  
pp. 495-504 ◽  
Author(s):  
Felix Syrovatka
Keyword(s):  
Political System ◽  
Political Support ◽  
The Political ◽  
Parliamentary Elections ◽  
Political Situation ◽  
Economic Transformations ◽  
Crisis Of Representation ◽  
Election Results ◽  
Deep Crisis

The presidential and parliamentary elections were a political earthquake for the French political system. While the two big parties experienced massive losses of political support, the rise of new political formations took place. Emmanuel Macron is not only the youngest president of the V. Republic so far, he is also the first president not to be supported by either one of the two biggest parties. This article argues that the election results are an expression of a deep crisis of representation in France that is rooted in the economic transformations of the 1970s. The article analyses the political situation after the elections and tries to give an outlook on further political developments in France.

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