The Politics of Regionalist Science: The Balkans as a Supranational Space in Late Nineteenth to Mid-Twentieth Century Academic Projects

2012 ◽  
Vol 39 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 266-303 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diana Mishkova

The article looks into the various scholarly (and disciplinary) conceptualizations of the Balkans/Southeastern Europe, which were spawned within the region itself prior to World War II. These regionalist schemes drew heavily on political values and relied on political support, while at the same time seeking to spearhead and legitimize political decisions or reformulate (geo)political visions. The article discusses the political implications of this scholarship with the idea to underscore notions of the Balkans which differed considerably from the one summarily and, in recent years, persistently conceptualized as mirroring the Western (discourse of) Balkanism. Not only were those notions more subtle and differentiated than an ‘orientalizing perspective’ would make us expect; a remarkable feature of the academic projects discussed here was their counterhegemonic thrust and the assertion that the Balkans are and should be treated as a subject.

Author(s):  
Zaid Ibrahim Ismael ◽  
Sabah Atallah Khalifa Ali

Nowhere is American author Shirley Jackson’s (1916-1965) social and political criticism is so intense than it is in her seminal fictional masterpiece “The Lottery”. Jackson severely denounces injustice through her emphasis on a bizarre social custom in a small American town, in which the winner of the lottery, untraditionally, receives a fatal prize. The readers are left puzzled at the end of the story as Tessie Hutchinson, the unfortunate female winner, is stoned to death by the members of her community, and even by her family. This study aims at investigating the author’s social and political implications that lie behind the story, taking into account the historical era in which the story was published (the aftermath of the bloody World War II) and the fact that the victim is a woman who is silenced and forced to follow the tradition of the lottery. The paper mainly focuses on the writer’s interest in human rights issues, which can be violated even in civilized communities, like the one depicted in the story. The shocking ending, the researchers conclude, is Jackson’s protest against dehumanization and violence.


Balcanica ◽  
2002 ◽  
pp. 227-252
Author(s):  
Prvoslav Radic

Contemporary Serbian Question in Macedonia is most closely related to major political events in the Balkans in 19th and 20th centuries. Starting from the social and historical processes in this region of the Balkans, the author examines this question through several fundamental periods, wishing to look into the status of Serbian population in Macedonia of the time against this background. The first period began with the First Serbian Uprising (1804) heralding the creation of the first free Serbian state in the Balkans, and ended with the conclusion of Liberation Wars (1878) leaving considerable Serbian territories liberated. The second period started at the time of conclusion of liberation wars and lasted till the beginning of the Balkan Wars in 1912. The third period was the one from the conclusion of Balkan Wars till the end of World War II (1945). The fourth period commenced at the end of World War II and lasted till the disintegration of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in the 1990s. The last, fifth period refers to the contemporary state of affairs in the Republic of Macedonia since the disintegration of the SFRY, i.e. the independence of the Republic of Macedonia in 1991. The analysis of the status of Serbian Question here is predominantly related to the culturological aspect through examining the circumstances in education literature, and in culture in general. It shows that the status of Serbian ethnic minority in Macedonia was closely related to social, historical and political setting in these areas of the Balkans. In the new social and political environment, the status of the remaining Serbian ethnic minority in Macedonia is uncertain. In the recent decades, unstable political circumstances in this area have had adverse effects on the presence of Serbian ethnic element in Macedonian territories, even more so since it fails to receive sufficient national support from both sides.


2021 ◽  
pp. 3-26
Author(s):  
Joseph P. Chinnici

The wartime struggle of Pius XII against totalitarianism focuses the identity of the Church on the defense of rights and the important connection between internal national developments and international stability. The American bishops’ adoption of the papal program moves the description of public Catholic identity in ambivalent directions. On the one hand, anti-communism shapes an organic presentation of the Judeo-Christian tradition united to the American way of life as the opposite of an atheistic and totalitarian “system of belief.” The sovereignty of God, obedience to lawfully constituted authority, and the unity between divine, natural, and positive law become dominant characteristics of the faith. On the other hand, this same rapprochement with American political values emphasizes equality, democratic participation, and individual rights. These ambivalences manifest themselves in different ways in the Catholic approach to family life and nuclear warfare.


2021 ◽  
pp. 095792652199214
Author(s):  
Kim Schoofs ◽  
Dorien Van De Mieroop

In this article, we scrutinise epistemic competitions in interviews about World War II. In particular, we analyse how the interlocutors draw on their epistemic authority concerning WWII to construct their interactional telling rights. On the one hand, the analyses illustrate how the interviewers rely on their historical expert status – as evidenced through their specialist knowledge and ventriloquisation of vicarious WWII narratives – in order to topicalise certain master narratives and thereby attempt to project particular identities upon the interviewees. On the other hand, the interviewees derive their epistemic authority from their first-hand experience as Jewish Holocaust survivors, on which they draw in order to counter these story projections, whilst constructing a more distinct self-positioning to protect their nuanced personal identity work. Overall, these epistemic competitions not only shaped the interviewees’ identity work, but they also made the link between storytelling and the social context more tangible as they brought – typically rather elusive – master narratives to the surface.


Author(s):  
Dr Rose Fazli ◽  
Dr Anahita Seifi

The present article is an attempt to offer the concept of political development from a novel perspective and perceive the Afghan Women image in accordance with the aforementioned viewpoint. To do so, first many efforts have been made to elucidate the author’s outlook as it contrasts with the classic stance of the concept of power and political development by reviewing the literature in development and particularly political development during the previous decades. For example Post-World War II approaches to political development which consider political development, from the Hobbesian perspective toward power, as one of the functions of government. However in a different view of power, political development found another place when it has been understood via postmodern approaches, it means power in a network of relationships, not limited to the one-way relationship between ruler and obedient. Therefore newer concept and forces find their way on political development likewise “image” as a considerable social, political and cultural concept and women as the new force. Then, the meaning of “image” as a symbolic one portraying the common universal aspect is explained. The Afghan woman image emphasizing the historic period of 2001 till now is scrutinized both formally and informally and finally the relationship between this reproduced image of Afghan women and Afghanistan political development from a novel perspective of understanding is represented.


2017 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 155-170
Author(s):  
Merwyn S. Johnson

Leviticus 18:5b ( the one doing them shall live in them) offers a prism through which to view the idiom of Scripture—the distinctive dynamics and theology of the Bible. The verse pinpoints the interplay between God's doing-and-living and ours. At issue is whether the commandments reflect a “command-and-do” structure of life with God, which maximizes a quid pro quo dynamic between God and us; or do the commandments delineate a “covenant place where” we abide with God and God with us, as a gift of shared doing pure and simple? The article traces Leviticus 18:5b through both Old and New Testaments, to show how pervasive it is. The main post-World War II English translations misstate the verse at every turn, in contrast to the 16th-century Church Reformation, which understood the verse and the issue under the topic of Law and Gospel.


2021 ◽  
Vol 57 (1) ◽  
pp. 271-282
Author(s):  
Laura Emmery

Made in Yugoslavia: Studies in Popular Music (edited by Danijela Špirić Beard and Ljerka Rasmussen) is a fascinating study of how popular music developed in post-World War II Yugoslavia, eventually reaching both unsurpassable popularity in the Balkans and Eastern Europe, and critical acclaim in the West. Through the comprehensive discussion of all popular music trends in Yugoslavia − commercial pop (zabavna-pop), rock, punk, new wave, disco, folk (narodna), and neofolk (novokomponovana) − across all six socialist Yugoslav republics, the reader is given the engrossing socio-cultural and political history of the country, providing the audience with a much-needed and riveting context for understanding the formation and the eventual demise of Tito’s Yugoslavia.


2017 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 105-138
Author(s):  
C.P.F. Luhulima

AbstractThailand’s borders with Myanmar, Laos, Cambodiaand Malaysia have been established through amapping process within the framework of theTreaty of Westfalpha. Since the England andFrance left Southeast Asia after World War II,Thailand questioned its borders with itsneighbouring countries and since then the borderissue between Thailand and her neighboursbecame the major issue. The attempts to resolvethe border conflict between Thailand andMyanmar have been conducted through“constructive engagement”, and through her policyof “changing battlefields to market places”. TheASEAN approach has been employed in her borderconflict with Cambodia. Cambodia’s attempt toinvolve the UN Security Council has been respondedby the Council to involve ASEAN in its resolution.The failure of the ASEAN approach made Cambodiato submit the issue to the ICJ in The Hague in April2011. On November 11, 2013 ICJ decided thatPreah Vihear and its surrounding area belong toCambodia. The source of the conflict with Malaysiawas not primarily about border, but it was apolitical complaint. The rebellion at the border areawill thus not terminate until the Thai authoritiesunderstand the complaints of the Muslim-Malaysat the border area. The ASEAN mechanism toresolve the inter-state conflict consists of bilateral,trilateral approaches, through the High Council andthe United Nations. The application of stepsbetween Thailand and its neighbours are thebilateral, trilateral steps and the one through theInternational Courtof Justice in The Hague.Keywords: Thailand, Myanmar, Malaysia, Kamboja,ASEAN, Dispute Settlement Mechanism AbstrakBatas Kerajaan Thailand dengan Myanmar, Laos,Kamboja dan Malaysia dibentuk melalui prosespemetaan di dalam kerangka Traktat Westfalia.Ketika Inggris dan Prancis mengundurkan dirisesudah Perang Dunia II, Thailand mempersoalkanperbatasannya dengan negara-negara tetangganya,sehingga perbatasan menjadi pokokpermasalahan. Sengketa dengan Myanmar diupayakanpenyelesainnya melalui “constructiveengagement”, dan dengan kebijakannya “changingbattlefields to market places”. Pendekatan ASEANdigunakan untuk menyelesaikan konflik denganKamboja. Pelibatan Dewan Keamanan PBB dijawabdengan meminta kedua belah pihak melibatkanASEAN. Kegagalan pendekatan ASEAN menyebabkanKamboja mengajukan kasus ini ke ICJ padaApril 2011. Pada 11 November 2013 MahkamahInternasional di Den Haag memutuskan bahwaCandi Preah Vihear dan wilayah sekitarnya adalahmilik Kamboja. Permasalahan dengan Malaysiabukanlah masalah perbatasan antara keduanegara melainkan keluhan politik, sehinggapemberontakan di perbatasan tidak akan berakhirsampai penguasa Thailand memahami keluhanorang-orang Muslim-Melayu di perbatasan.Mekanisme ASEAN untuk mengatasi sengketaantarnegara anggota terdiri dari langkah bilateral,trilateral, melalui pembentukan Dewan Tinggi danmelalui lembaga hukum PBB. Yang di-terapkandalam kasus sengketa perbatasan antara Thailanddan negara tetangganya ialah pendekatanbilateral dan trilateral serta melalui LembagaPeradilan PBB.Kata kunci: Thailand, Myanmar, Malaysia,Kamboja, ASEAN, Mekanisme PenyelesaianPerselisihan


2009 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 116-158 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Antic

This article analyzes how the ideological discourse of the Croatian fascist movement (the Ustaša) evolved in the course of World War II under pressures of the increasingly popular and powerful communist armed resistance. It explores and interprets the way the regime formulated its ideological responses to the political/ideological challenge of the leftist guerrilla and its propaganda in the period after the proclamation of the Ustaša Independent State of Croatia in 1941 until the end of the war. The author demonstrates that the regime, faced with its own political weakness and inability to maintain authority, shaped its rhetoric and ideological self-definition in a direct dialogue with the Marxist discourse of the communist propaganda, incorporating important Marxist concepts in its theory of state and society and redefining its concepts of national boundaries and racial identity to match the communists’ propaganda of inclusive, civic national Yugoslavism. This massive ideological renegotiation of the movement’s basic tenets and its consequent leftward shift reflected a change in an opposite direction from the one commonly encountered in narratives of other fascisms’ ideological evolution paths (most notably in Italy and Germany): as the movement became a regime, the Ustaša transformed from its initial conservatism, traditionalism (in both sociopolitical and cultural matters), pseudo-feudal worldview of peasant worship and antiurbanism, anti-Semitism, and rigid racialism in relation to nation and state into an ideology of increasingly inclusive, culture-based, and nonethnic nationalism and with an exceptionally strong leftist rhetoric of social welfare, class struggle, and the rights of the working class.


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