scholarly journals Geo-Regional Security and Transformation After the Balkan's Wars and Kosova Independence

2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 195
Author(s):  
Dr.Sc. Gjon Boriqi
Keyword(s):  
Balkan Peninsula ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
Peace Building ◽  
Regional Security ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Balkan Countries ◽  
Balkan Region ◽  
Way Of Thinking

During the '90-ies the wars in the former territories of what was called Yugoslavia marked the end of a century plenty of wars and local armed conflicts. More than 140 million people died because of wars in the XX century. The war of Kosova was the last one in that century. The beginning of the XXI century stressed the necessity for a new way of thinking nationally, regionally and globally. The Balkans were often considered as a gun powder territory. All the Balkans states, someone more and someone less, have problems with each other. History was and remained very passionate within the Balkan countries. The case of Kosova is possibly the most sensitive in all this framework. After the proclamation of independence on February 17 2008, the concerns were high within the region and a new question was questioned: would the map of the Balkan peninsula change again to form another "Kosovo"? This article would give some details about the geopolitical situation in the Balkans focusing on Kosova and would try to establish e new way of making politics and diplomacy though deterrence and not offence. We will try to overpass history but without neglecting it, but by learning from its mistakes in order to bring a better Peace-Building aspect for the Balkan region.

ROMANIA AND THE BALKANS: POLITICAL, HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL ASPECTS

2021 ◽  
pp. 233-252
Author(s):  
Tatiana Bitkova ◽  
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Balkan Peninsula ◽  
Western Balkans ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Political Situation ◽  
Cultural Aspects ◽  
Balkan Countries ◽  
Regional Leadership ◽  
Balkan Region ◽  
The Common

The article analyzes some aspects of Romania’s foreign policy in the Balkan region. It is noted that the same fact that country belongs to the Balkans causes ambiguous interpretations on the part of Romanian politicians and experts, many of whom believe that Romania cannot be attributed to this region either geographically or politically. At the same time, culturally and historically, according to a certain part of historians and sociologists, Romania nevertheless carries the features of the so-called «Balkanism», due to the common Ottoman past with the Balkan Peninsula. These features are also relevant for the current socio-political situation, which is shown in the article with specific examples. In addition, criticism of the very term «Balkanism» from the side of Romanian analysts is presented. The author also examines Romania’s relations with the countries of the Western Balkans, primarily with Serbia. The points of contact of the positions of these countries are noted, which are largely due to the desire of Serbia to resolve the Kosovo problem in its favor, relying on the support of Romania - one of the five EU countries that did not recognize the independence of Kosovo. Romania, using this situation, is trying to strengthen its position, seeking regional leadership. The author comes to the conclusion that, although the Western Balkan countries directly or indirectly aspire to Euro-Atlantic structures, some of them (primarily Serbia) maintain and develop friendly relations with Russia, which complicates their interaction with Romania, orthodoxly adhering to the NATO and European Union policies and having a very difficult relationship with Russia.

scholarly journals The Schemes of External Quality Control in Laboratory Medicine in the Balkans

2007 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 245-247
Author(s):  
Petros Karkalousos
Keyword(s):  
Quality Control ◽  
Scientific Community ◽  
Clinical Chemistry ◽  
Laboratory Medicine ◽  
External Quality Control ◽  
External Quality ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Control Schemes ◽  
Balkan Countries ◽  
Balkan Region

The Schemes of External Quality Control in Laboratory Medicine in the Balkans There are many differences between the national External Quality Control Schemes all around Europe, but the most important ones are certainly those between the countries of the Balkan region. These differences are due to these countries' different political and financial development, as well as to their tradition and the development of clinical chemistry science in each one. Therefore, there are Balkan countries with very developed EQAS and others where there is no such a scheme. Undoubtedly, the scientific community in these countries wants to develop EQAS despite of the financial and other difficulties.

scholarly journals Medical and Social Aspects of Syphilis in the Balkans from the mid-19th Century to the Interwar

Folia Medica ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-11
Author(s):  
Costas Tsiamis ◽  
Georgia Vrioni ◽  
Effie Poulakou-Rebelakou ◽  
Vasiliki Gennimata ◽  
Mariana А. Murdjeva ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
Sex Work ◽  
Balkan Peninsula ◽  
Epidemiological Studies ◽  
Precipitation Reaction ◽  
Public Health Services ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Balkan Countries ◽  
Major Factors ◽  
Wassermann Reaction

Abstract The current study presents some aspects of syphilis in the Balkan Peninsula from the 19th century until the Interwar. Ever since the birth of modern Balkan States (Greece, Bulgaria, Turkey and Serbia), urbanization, poverty and the frequent wars have been considered the major factors conducive to the spread of syphilis. The measures against sex work and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) were taken in two aspects, one medical and the other legislative. In this period, numerous hospitals for venereal diseases were established in the Balkan countries. In line with the international diagnostic approach and therapeutic standards, laboratory examinations in these Balkan hospitals included spirochete examination, Wassermann reaction, precipitation reaction and cerebrospinal fluid examination. Despite the strict legislation and the adoption of relevant laws against illegal sex work, public health services were unable to curb the spread of syphilis. Medical and social factors such as poverty, citizen’s ignorance of STDs, misguided medical perceptions, lack of sanitary control of prostitution and epidemiological studies, are highlighted in this study. These factors were the major causes that helped syphilis spread in the Balkan countries during the 19th and early 20th century. The value of these aspects as a historic paradigm is diachronic. Failure to comply with the laws and the dysfunction of public services during periods of war or socioeconomic crises are both factors facilitating the spread of STDs.

scholarly journals The transition paradigm versus integration in the context of political transformation of the Balkan countries

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Veton Latifi
Keyword(s):  
European Integration ◽  
Political Transformation ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Liberal Democracies ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Sustainable Peace ◽  
Balkan Countries ◽  
Balkan Region ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Integration Project

Three decades since the end of the Cold War and the fall of communism, some of the Balkan nations are not following yet the lessons for building sustainable peace and functioning democracies according to their aspirations (at least in a declarative way) for association with the liberal democracies of the European Union (EU). Rather, the Balkans’ history is transforming into a story of importing the habits and principles from the communism period in a paradoxical way of establishing the illiberal democracies followed by controversies and defects in the process of state-building. More than a decade, the Balkans, from one side, is transformed into a zone of periphery with a focus of the European determination for the support of the institutional reform through the process of integration, but in parallel, it is being self-formatted into a zone of self-isolation of the Balkan nations. This article will discuss the transition paradigm of the Balkans through functional analysis of aspects related to the rhetoric of Balkan countries in the discourse of the criteria of the European integration project; the dimension of the Balkan ancient myth with the new additional attribute of self-isolation; the insisting of the Balkan political elites for catapulting to the European project; and as well as the dynamics of the transition, internal and European integration of the Albanians and other nations of the Balkan region in the general

scholarly journals From geopolitics towards demopolitics: Serbian foreign policy and demographic trends

2017 ◽  
Vol 69 (4) ◽  
pp. 423-441
Author(s):  
Nebojsa Vukovic
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Southeast Europe ◽  
Demographic Trends ◽  
Older Population ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Balkan Countries ◽  
First Time

In this paper, the author states and proves the hypothesis that negative demographic trends in the Republic of Serbia, and in Southeast Europe as a whole, can have a significant influence on the pursuing of the foreign policy of both Serbia and its neighboring countries. According to the anticipations of the relevant institutions and individuals-scientists, in the forthcoming decades, Serbia and other Southeast European countries (except the areas inhabited by the Albanians, although they themselves have also deeply stepped into the process of the so-called demographic transition) may expect to face the continuation of the unfavorable demographic trends - a decrease in the number of the inhabitants and an increasingly older population. The main reasons for the stated are the falling rate of natality and migrations of an economic character of the Western developed countries. Due to that, differently from the previous historical periods, it may be expected that the Balkan countries will, for the first time, change their foreign?policy focus - from managing, acquiring and controlling territories (geopolitics) towards managing, acquiring and controlling the population (demo politics). In other words, Serbia and the Balkan countries can, for the first time, be more focused on their own selves and their most critical demographic-political-safety aspect - their decreasing number of inhabitants and increasingly older populations - and less on, historically observed, the traditional goal - the enlargement and control of the territory. This means that, with an increasingly smaller and increasingly older population, the armed conflicts whose basic ambitions would be to change the borders would gradually become increasingly less socially accepted. The author does not consider that the territorial integrity ceases to be an important priority for each one of the Southeast European countries and that geopolitics is completely losing its significance in the Balkans, but he rather asserts that the geopolitical goals that would imply changing the borders are losing their attractiveness in the societies that are rapidly losing their populations. The only exception in that sense is the Albanian ethnic community, whose demographic characteristics partly differ from the Balkan and, generally, European trends. Simultaneously, faced with a decrease in and the aging of their populations, the Balkan countries could find the common basis for a coordinated foreign and safety policy and share costs and resources in facing different safety challenges.

scholarly journals Geopolitical Configurations after the Former Yugoslavia and Kosovo Independence

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (12) ◽  
pp. 4001-4008
Author(s):  
Genc Mekaj ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
Former Yugoslavia ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Significant Challenge ◽  
The Past ◽  
Balkan Region ◽  
The Right

The disintegration of the former Yugoslavia marked the end of the armed conflicts, bringing the region's geopolitical configurations in which it lay. This article gives details the geopolitical designs following the breakup of the former Yugoslavia. It also provides details about foreign geopolitical influences and their interests in the region. In the vortex of the former Yugoslavia's disintegration, the most sensitive case in all framework is Kosovo's case. The problematic past between Albanians and Serbs poses a significant challenge. The Albanian factor in the Balkans is also a problem that brings general challenges in the region without solving it in the right way. In this article, we have tried to elaborate Kosovo Independence's case to bring stability and consolidation of security for the country and the region. We have tried to present that the former Yugoslavia countries should learn from the past and cooperate for a general future. Through cooperation and overcoming classical thinking to orient towards the end, it should bring peace and stability, especially for each country and the Balkan region.

The water mites (Acari: Hydrachnidia) of the Balkan peninsula, a revised survey with new records and descriptions of five new taxa

Zootaxa ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 2586 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
VLADIMIR PEŠIĆ ◽  
HARRY SMIT ◽  
REINHARD GERECKE ◽  
ANTONIO DI SABATINO
Keyword(s):  
New Taxa ◽  
New Records ◽  
Balkan Peninsula ◽  
Field Work ◽  
Original Data ◽  
Water Mites ◽  
Water Mite ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Treated Area ◽  
Balkan Countries

Based on published records and original data from recent research, a list is presented of the water mite (Acari: Hydrachnidia) fauna of the Balkan countries, i.e. Croatia, Bosnia and Hercegovina, Montenegro, Albania, Serbia, Macedonia, Bulgaria and Greece. It includes 382 species and subspecies in 77 genera and 34 families. Numerous new records for national faunas are reported, and five taxa, Sperchon pelopeius (Greece), Atractides stankovici (Croatia), Axonopsis graeca (Greece), Woolastookia minuta (Bosnia and Hercegovina, Greece) and Arrenurus ornatus graecus (Greece) are described as new to science. Atractides moniezi (Motaş, 1927) is synonymized with A. lacustris (Lundblad, 1925). The assumption of K. O. Viets (1987) that Pionopsis subruber Đ orđević, 1903 is a synonym of P. lutescens (Hermann, 1804) is confirmed. The characteristics of the water mite fauna in the treated area are briefly outlined. Additional field work is highly desirable for a more appropriate evaluation of the extant water mite biodiversity in the Balkans.

scholarly journals The Perspectives of Russia’s Soft Power in the Western Balkans Region

2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 231-244
Author(s):  
Aleksandar Djokic
Keyword(s):  
Russian Federation ◽  
Soft Power ◽  
Balkan Peninsula ◽  
The United States ◽  
Western Balkans ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Balkan Region ◽  
The Russian Federation ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Economic Ties

The article analyzes the perspectives of Russia’s soft power in the Balkans. The Russian Federation has longstanding historical, political, cultural and economic ties to the Balkan region. Therefore, being free of a one-sided ideological approach that hampered the usage of soft power by the USSR during the Cold War era, Russia stands at the crossroads as to how best to use it’s great potential for peaceful diplomacy and influence in the Western Balkans. The article will provide an analysis of the achievements of the Russian Federation in regards to extending it’s influence in the Western Balkans, but also the downsides of it’s foreign policy. The analysis will encompass several Western Balkan states and their ties to Russia in terms of soft power: Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The article raises the question: whether Russia can withstand the struggle for influence over the Balkans with it’s greatest rivals in the region - the United States and the EU? The author concludes that it depends largely on the various approaches and methods used by Russian diplomacy and the level of funding of various projects that can be used to extend Russia’s cultural influence in the Balkan peninsula.

scholarly journals EXPERIENCE OF BALKAN COUNTRIES ON TERRITORY INTEGRATION

2020 ◽  
pp. 64-73
Author(s):  
Ganna Palii
Keyword(s):  
Conflict Resolution ◽  
Bosnia And Herzegovina ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
Balkan Countries ◽  
Yugoslav Republic ◽  
Balkan Region ◽  
Post War ◽  
Key Aspects ◽  
And Control

The article analyzes the experience of the Balkan countries in de-occupation and reintegration of territories. Cases of conflicts in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Macedonia (Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia in 1993–2019, North Macedonia since 2019) are being studied. The analysis is based on a study of all stages of conflict resolution. The article examines the sequence of key aspects of the settlement. Consideration of all stages of armed conflicts in the Balkan region has shown that international peace-keeping missions, with military and civilian components, play a significant role. The participation of various international organizations (UN, NATO, EU) and countries (USA) and in resolving those conflicts and further integration also had a decisive influence. The reintegration processes in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Macedonia were based on peace agreements, as well as the full restoration of border and territory controlling. The next stage was to ensure demilitarization and disarmament. The fully fledged process of integration also included law enforcement reform, election preparation and conduct. The issues of post-war justice, punishment for war crimes and mass human rights violations were among the top priorities. In the implementation of all these reintegration measures, international organizations were involved, which actively provided assistance and performed a monitoring function. Among the necessary conditions for de-occupation and peaceful reintegration are the following: consolidation and consistency of the positions of the political and military leadership, the presence of a powerful army, implementation of sanctions, economic and military-political pressure on the aggressor side, demilitarization and control of the territory, justice and amnesty with fixed frameworks. The prospect of further research is that valuable experience with conflict resolution settlement and reintegration contains effective mechanisms that can be adapted in the case of Ukraine.

scholarly journals Implementacja systemu COBISS w bibliotekach bałkańskich

2017 ◽  
Vol 35 ◽  
pp. 81-102
Author(s):  
Maria Małgorzata Maczkowska
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Information System ◽  
Information Science ◽  
Balkan Peninsula ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Bibliographic Information ◽  
Technological Information ◽  
Balkan Countries ◽  
The Creation

Implementation of the COBISS system in the Balkan librariesThe beginnings of the computerization of libraries on the Balkan Peninsula involved the implementation of the project SNTIJ Sistem naučnih itehnoloških informacija Jugoslavije — Sys­tem of scientific and technological information of Yugoslavia in Yugoslav libraries in the 80s of the twentieth century. The creation of an extensive network, unifying library processes, enabled the creation of acommon database of bibliographic information. The disintegration of Yugoslavia stopped the process of mutual development and cooperation of libraries in the region. In countries formed from the former Yugoslavian republics, continued the development of local library systems based on the COBISS system Cooperative Online Bibliographic Systems and Services, created by the Institute of Information Science IZUM from Maribor Slovenia. In the 90s, libraries in newly established countries started using the system COBISS again. The COBISS system was also accepted by libraries in Bulgaria and Albania. The development of the system COBISS, connecting libraries in Balkan countries, allowed the creation of acommon information system in the Balkans.

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