The Young Czech Party (1874-1914): An Appraisal

Slavic Review ◽  
1969 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 426-444 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stanley B. Winters

For forty eventful years, ending with the outbreak of the First World War, the Young Czech Party waged an unremitting struggle on behalf of Czech national interests within the limited constitutional framework of the Hapsburg Monarchy. Political activity for such a span of time would be enough to insure the party a niche in history, but in addition it dominated Czech politics for sixteen of those years and enlisted politicians of the caliber of Kaizl, Kramář, Rašín, and briefly Masaryk under its banner in their quest for elective office. The intent of this article is to evaluate the party's contributions to the development of the modern Czech political system by outlining its history and general orientation and by comparing party platforms with achievements.

Author(s):  
George Gotsiridze

The work discusses the legacy of the First World War - its positive and negative sides - which played an important role in the formation of the world processes in the post-war period and still preserves its viability.The actuality of the problem is backed by the fact that the relationship of the Trans-caucasian countries with the outer world is still problematic nowadays. We witness how the world’s political and economic map is changing and technical-scientific progress is tangible. In the conditions of the accelerated global processes, a general political, economic and cultural area is being formed, and a new world order is being formed with its difficulties, social catastrophes or cataclysms, conflicts, divergence and integration. At this time, it is of utmost importance to analyze historical problems from the past and seek ways to resolve them in the political relations of the South Caucasus, as in their attitude towards the outside world, understanding that unity is a necessary guarantee of strengthening the statehood of each country and that the perception of the Transcaucasia by the rest of the world as a unified political and economic sphere will simplify the Euro - Atlantic integration. The issue is discussed from the new humanitarian perspectives, which gives us the opportunity to determine the national verticals from experience received centuries ago, around which local or regional political consciousness should be unified in order to satisfy the national interests of each country in the Transcaucasia through closer cooperation.


2013 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdurrahman Atçıl

Before the First World War, Shakīb Arslān’s political views and polemic against the Ottoman Administrative Decentralization Party was primarily based on his and his family’s experiences in the politics of Mount Lebanon since 1861. His contacts with Jamāl al-Dīn al-Afghānī and Muḥammad ʿAbduh did not inspire him to adopt a pan-Islamist or reformist stance. When he became involved in politics at the Ottoman imperial level after 1911, he called for strengthening Ottoman central control in the Arab lands. He interpreted the demands of decentralization and autonomy as the desire to establish a political system along the lines of the special administration in Mount Lebanon, which he viewed as an invitation to increase of European influence. He therefore accused those who promoted decentralization of dishonesty and treason. His essential motive at this time was to preserve and justify the strength and control of the Ottoman center. His view of Islam as a political unifier did not have a reformist edge, but was designed as a counterpoise to the idea of Arab exclusivity. 



1971 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 133-150 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. A. Thompson

A difficulty which faces students of American thought about foreign affairs is the relation between general principles and views of the world on the one hand and attitudes to specific issues of policy on the other. Since the pioneering work of Robert E. Osgood, historians have emphasized the important distinction between those whose primary concern is the protection of American national interests within the existing system of power politics, and those who seek above all to reform the international order in accordance with American liberal ideals. In recent years much attention has been paid to the influence of economic considerations, particularly the desire to promote American foreign trade. However, the relative weight attached to national security, liberal idealism and American economic interests overseas by individual Americans does not entirely account for their differing attitudes to particular questions. For in crucial debates, such as those over the Philippines and the League of Nations, each of these considerations was invoked by some on both sides of the argument. To some extent, the older and more superficial distinction between ‘isolationism’ and ‘anti-isolationism’, while concealing the variety of premises upon which either position could be founded, provides a better basis for predicting the readiness of Americans to favour particular foreign enterprises or commitments. Yet adherence even to these broad traditions has been far from consistent. Thus, while it would be natural to assume that the imperialists of 1898–1900 were more likely than their opponents to favour American intervention in the First World War, it is not clear that this was the case.


Skhid ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 36-44
Author(s):  
Yaroslav POPENKO ◽  
Ihor SRIBNYAK ◽  
Natalia YAKOVENKO ◽  
Viktor MATVIYENKO

The article covers the course of negotiations between the plenipotentiaries of Romania and the leading states of the Entente and the Quadruple Alliance during the First World War. Facing the dilemma of determining its own foreign policy orientation – by joining one of the mentioned military-political blocs, the Romanian government was hesitating for a long time to come to a final decision. At the same time, largely due to this balancing process, official Bucharest managed to preserve its sovereign right to work out and make the most important decisions, while consistently defending Romania's national interests. By taking the side of the Entente and receiving comprehensive military assistance from Russia, Romania at the same time faced enormous military and political problems due to military superiority of the allied Austrian and German forces at the Balkan theater of hostilities. Their occupation of much of Romania forced official Bucharest to seek an alternative, making it sign a separate agreement with the Central Block states. At the same time, its ratification was being delayed in every possible way, which enabled Romania to return to the camp of war winners at the right time. At the same time, official Bucharest made the most of the decline and liquidation of imperial institutions in Russia and Austria-Hungary at the final stage of the First World War, incorporating vast frontier territories into the Kingdom. Taking advantage of the revolutionary events in Russia, the Romanian government succeeded, in particular, in resolving the “Bessarabian problem” in its favor. In addition, Romania included Transylvania, Bukovina and part of Banat. An important foreign policy achievement of Romanian diplomacy was signing of the 1918 Bucharest Peace Treaty, as well as its participation in the Paris Peace Conference.


2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 64-82
Author(s):  
Bernard Degen ◽  
Christian Koller

Zusammenfassung Switzerland was spared direct involvement into the First World War, nevertheless the global conflict had tremendous political and economic impact on the neutral republic. Major antagonisms emerged between the different linguistic groups sympathising with opposing belligerent coalitions as well as between different social strata. Food and fuel shortages and wartime inflation as well as a lack of integration of the labour movement into the political system and its partial shift to the left resulted in a wave of strikes and protest in the second half of the war that continued into the first two post-war years. Its culmination was a national general strike in November 1918 lasting for three days upon the war’s conclusion, and that in bourgeois circles was wrongly considered an attempted revolution. Whilst this is considered the most severe crisis in modern Swiss history, from a transnational perspective, it was no more than a relatively mild variation of the worldwide upheavals going on at the time.


Author(s):  
George Gotsiridze

The work discusses the legacy of the First World War - its positive and negative sides - which played an important role in the formation of the world processes in the post-war period and still preserves its viability.The actuality of the problem is backed by the fact that the relationship of the Transcaucasian countries with the outer world is still problematic nowadays. We witness how the world’s political and economic map is changing and technical-scientific progress is tangible. In the conditions of the accelerated global processes, a general political, economic and cultural area is being formed, and a new world order is being formed with its difficulties, social catastrophes or cataclysms, conflicts, divergence and integration. At this time, it is of utmost importance to analyze historical problems from the past and seek ways to resolve them in the political relations of the South Caucasus, as in their attitude towards the outside world, under-standing that unity is a necessary guarantee of strengthening the statehood of each country and that the perception of the Transcaucasia the rest of the world as a unified political and economic sphere will simplify the Euro Atlantic integration. The issue is discussed from the new humanitarian perspectives, which gives us the opportunity to determine the national verticals from experience received centuries ago, around which local or regional political consciousness should be unified in order to satisfy the national interests of each country in the Transcaucasia through closer cooperation.


2001 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 107-126
Author(s):  
Edmundas Gimžauskas

The paper is devoted to a relatively recently researched subject – the relations between the Lithuanians and the Belorussians and the role of the latter in the genesis of the Lithuanian state in the early twentieth century. At the start of the First World War in the German-occupied regions there was a chance to re-establish the Republic of the Two Nations for the first time after 1795. However, that was not the German intention. Initially they supported only the illusion of the re-establishment of Lithuanian statehood in the lands of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In this policy there was also some space for the rudiments of the political activity of Lithuanian and Belorussian intellectuals. Since the beginning of the ‘Los von Russland’ Campaign of 1916 it is possible to trace certain open efforts to obtain Lithuanian and Belorussian statehood. In the Lithuanian political struggle formulas of historical and ethnic statehood were applied taking into consideration the practical political manoeuvres of the warring countries. After the declaration of Polish statehood on 5 November 1916 the ethnic model became more important. In the east an ethnic Lithuanian state was to coincide with the historic ‘Lithuania Proper’. That was a basis for more or less constructive relations with the Belorussians, who also preferred to adhere to the historical formula. After the February Revolution, when the Belorussians started requiring the historical statehood of the whole of the GDL, contacts were broken, and they were renewed in the autumn of 1917 after the election of the Lithuanian Council (Taryba).


2008 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 119-125
Author(s):  
Edmundas Gimžauskas

This text analyzes the relation between independent movements of Lithuanians and Belarusians in the period of the First World War. Lithuanians stood firmly for the ethnographic model of their future state, whereas Belarusians, whose national movement was weak, declared loyalty to the formula of the restoration of the historical GDL. Since the projected ethnographic Lithuania actually coincided with historical ‘Lithuania Proper’ and the boundaries of the territory occupied by Germans, the latter exploiting the national factor tolerated and promoted a certain political activity of Lithuanians and Belarusians maintaining a quite constructive dialogue between the two. The events of 1918 proved that Lithuanians objectively pursued interests of their developed ethnocentric nation and in politics attributed only an auxiliary role to Belarusians. Simultaneously, Belarusians received a strong impulse towards their independence.


1990 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 895-916 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. C. Whiting

The working class's experience of the tax system is an important aspect of its relationship with the state. This article examines the nature of this connexion during the First World War and its aftermath when fiscal policy was subject to intense political pressure. Two themes are paramount, those of resistance and appropriation. From the point of view of governments the less tax collection encouraged class-based opposition the better. Because the level of tax payments depended on varied circumstances within social groups – caused by family size or patterns of consumption, for example – the lines of differentiation were more finely drawn than the contours of social class. Many tax payments affected the individual as a citizen within the political system rather than as a producer within the economy. The articulation of resentment about tax burdens with conflicts in the economy was not therefore automatic. However, when governments were closely involved in the running of the economy, as in the First World War, it was helpful to use the tax system as an instrument of social justice, so that efforts to generate a common purpose might not be impaired by resentment of the disproportionate gains of others. In these circumstances taxpayers might well be encouraged to see the tax system as a way of appropriating or limiting the wealth of other classes, in a way which did bring it into closer relationship with the economy.


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