scholarly journals The Importance of Statebuilding: Additional Contributions from a Military Perspective

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 5-15
Author(s):  
József Lajos Németh ◽  
Gábor Boldizsár
Keyword(s):  
Peace Operations ◽  
Historical Experience ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Early Beginning ◽  
Extreme Factors ◽  
General Relations ◽  
Basic Infrastructure ◽  
Failing States ◽  
Military Perspective ◽  
The Military

Since the early beginning, stability, prosperity and security have been core values for the members of the transatlantic community. Efforts have been made for reconciliation over human lives lost in war, to understand and to solve dramatic changes in societies, to rebuild economies after heavy losses in goods, and to repair and maintain destroyed basic infrastructure; these are still ongoing concerns that present periodical challenges for all participating states. Statebuilding approaches can be described in many theoretical ways, but in practice – based on historical experience – they can be either peaceful or very bloody. In order to realise unknown and extreme factors and to give them adequate answers there is an urgent need for a stable, reliable and effective system.The Hungarian Defence Forces has a long history in peace operations, however, the latest missions conducted, especially in the Balkans and in Afghanistan, provided lots of useful experience related to different statebuilding efforts. In this paper the authors explain the basic general relations between state and the military, in normal – or ideal – circumstances, illustrated – as a comparison – with different elements and factors in statebuilding efforts in case of extreme conditions such as war, failing states or even a hypocritical emergence of state-like entities.

State-run celebration of Liberation Day in Czechoslovakia (based on audiovisual sources)

2019 ◽  
pp. 251-268
Author(s):  
Timur Gimadeev
Keyword(s):  
Political Development ◽  
Communist Regime ◽  
Political Regime ◽  
The Political ◽  
Historical Experience ◽  
History Of ◽  
Post War ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
The Military

The article deals with the history of celebrating the Liberation Day in Czechoslovakia organised by the state. Various aspects of the history of the holiday have been considered with the extensive use of audiovisual documents (materials from Czechoslovak newsreels and TV archives), which allowed for a detailed analysis of the propaganda representation of the holiday. As a result, it has been possible to identify the main stages of the historical evolution of the celebrations of Liberation Day, to discover the close interdependence between these stages and the country’s political development. The establishment of the holiday itself — its concept and the military parade as the main ritual — took place in the first post-war years, simultaneously with the consolidation of the Communist regime in Czechoslovakia. Later, until the end of the 1960s, the celebrations gradually evolved along the political regime, acquiring new ritual forms (ceremonial meetings, and “guards of memory”). In 1968, at the same time as there was an attempt to rethink the entire socialist regime and the historical experience connected with it, an attempt was made to reconstruct Liberation Day. However, political “normalisation” led to the normalisation of the celebration itself, which played an important role in legitimising the Soviet presence in the country. At this stage, the role of ceremonial meetings and “guards of memory” increased, while inventions released in time for 9 May appeared and “May TV” was specially produced. The fall of the Communist regime in 1989 led to the fall of the concept of Liberation Day on 9 May, resulting in changes of the title, date and paradigm of the holiday, which became Victory Day and has been since celebrated on 8 May.

ФИЛОСОФИЯ НАУЧНОЙ ДИПЛОМАТИИ

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 67
Author(s):  
N. V. Litvak
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Community ◽  
Political Struggle ◽  
Historical Experience ◽  
Politics And Science ◽  
Scientific Project ◽  
War And Conflict ◽  
Scientific Diplomacy ◽  
Foreign Ministry ◽  
The Military

The article considers the scientific diplomacy — a relatively new phenomenon in international practice — as a type of diplomacy which took shape quite recently, in the 21st century, with the advent of both the term itself, and the corresponding concepts, and the Foreign Ministry units of some countries. However, it is necessary to clarify the terminology and essence of this practice, which has a much more long history. At the present time, there is a reassessment of this historical experience, as well as another attempt to put science in the civil service in one more — diplomatic aspect, as it has already happened with the military, educational and some other areas. At the same time, the scientific community itself in this process has the opportunity to play not only the role of an object or a passive performer. The demand for science is clearly manifested in periods of war and conflict, which in various forms do not stop today. This causes the urgency of the problem. At the same time, the conscious activity of politicians and scientists is combined with objective, independently developing, incl. latently, unobviously, by the processes of political struggle and scientific knowledge, which leads to complex combinations of interrelations between politics and science. The study of such events and processes allows us to draw some conclusions regarding relations between science and diplomacy, to determine the trend of consistent “scientification” of diplomacy, like of any other sphere of society, the transition from diplomacy-mail (communication) through diplomacy-art to diplomacy-science, formulate a hypothesis that diplomacy in general is a scientific project.

scholarly journals The Austro-Hungarian occupation regime in Serbia and its break-down in 1918

Balcanica ◽  
2015 ◽  
pp. 107-133
Author(s):  
Dimitrije Djordjevic
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
First World War ◽  
World War ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Economic Exploitation ◽  
The First World War ◽  
Post War ◽  
The Military ◽  
The Great War ◽  
First World

This paper discusses the occupation of Serbia during the First World War by Austro-Hungarian forces. The first partial occupation was short-lived as the Serbian army repelled the aggressors after the Battle of Kolubara in late 1914, but the second one lasted from fall 1915 until the end of the Great War. The Austro-Hungarian occupation zone in Serbia covered the largest share of Serbia?s territory and it was organised in the shape of the Military Governorate on the pattern of Austro-Hungarian occupation of part of Poland. The invaders did not reach a clear decision as to what to do with Serbian territory in post-war period and that gave rise to considerable frictions between Austro-Hungarian and German interests in the Balkans, then between Austrian and Hungarian interests and, finally, between military and civilian authorities within Military Governorate. Throughout the occupation Serbia was exposed to ruthless economic exploitation and her population suffered much both from devastation and from large-scale repression (including deportations, internments and denationalisation) on the part of the occupation regime.

The Process of Westernization of the Balkans after WWII: The Cases of Greece and Bulgaria

2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-34
Author(s):  
Alla Kondrasheva ◽  
Stavris Parastatov
Keyword(s):  
Social Relations ◽  
Short Interval ◽  
Western Country ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Spheres Of Influence ◽  
Western Influence ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
The Military ◽  
Of Greece

The high significance of the Balkan geopolitical knot was clearly expressed in the bipolar era when the main frontier between the two warring blocks passed through the Balkans. Due to the secret ‘Percentages Agreement’ between Great Britain and the USSR in 1944, the Balkans were divided into spheres of influence of the two great powers. Subsequently, London ceded the role of the main source of Western influence in the region to Washington.Of particular interest are the cases of Greece and Bulgaria as border countries that found themselves in different ‘worlds’ and, given the geostrategic importance of their territories, which were the main ideological instruments and conductors of ideas in the Cold war of the hegemons that stood behind. The Truman Doctrine in 1947 and NATO membership in 1952 strengthened and institutionalized Western influence in Greece. Westernization of Greek society in the form of liberalization and democratiza-tion of social relations and consequently its political system proceeded rapidly with a relatively short interval of the military dictatorship.Greece was assigned the role of a model for the rapid and successful develop-ment of a western country, a bridgehead for the dissemination of anti–communist ide-as in other countries of the Balkan region, primarily Bulgaria. Besides, due to the establishment of a strict pro–Soviet regime in Sofia, the westernization of Bulgarian society was carried out including through intelligence agencies, and after a certain thaw in relations through economic cooperation.

The Defeat

2021 ◽  
pp. 123-130
Author(s):  
William Klinger ◽  
Denis Kuljiš
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Political Leadership ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
The Military ◽  
The Revolution

This chapter cites the military conference in Stolice, in which the participants in attendance formed the wartime political leadership that was to command armies and the revolution in the Balkans. It tells of the mop-up operation that started in the northern Serbian province of Mačva, where 2,000 people were shot and more than 20,000 were deported to the Reich. It also recalls the mass executions that took place in the centrally located Kragujevac, in which many civilians perished, including students and professors of a high school. The chapter talks about the armed conflict between Partisans and Chetniks that flared up in Užice, which turned their cohabitation into an open clash. It explores Marshal Tito's information to Moscow about his evidence that General Mihailović has been overtly collaborating with the Germans.

Introduction

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emanuele Sica
Keyword(s):  
Historical Sociology ◽  
General Level ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
The Face ◽  
Occupied Territories ◽  
Grassroots Level ◽  
Triangular Relationship ◽  
The Military ◽  
French Riviera

This book examines the Italian army’s occupation of the French Riviera during the period 1940–1943 at three different levels, each involving a triangular relationship. At a more general level, it analyzes the military occupation with the lens of historical sociology, making references to the triangular comparison of the Italian occupation of France to the German occupation of France and to the Italian occupation of the Balkans. It also considers “the structural effects of occupation on the occupied society’s environment and living conditions,” with particular emphasis on the triangular and rocky relationship between the representatives of the French state, especially the prefects and mayors, and the Italian military authorities, the officers of Italian units deployed on French soil, and Italian civilian authorities who were officially dispatched by Rome to supervise the implementation of the Franco-Italian armistice and to secretly prepare for the annexation of the occupied territories. Finally, at a grassroots level, the book explores the “face-to-face interaction between occupiers and occupied people” and how it was shaped by both groups’ habits, culture, prejudices, and tensions.

Russia and the Eastern Question

2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Bitis
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Ottoman Empire ◽  
The Caucasus ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Eastern Question ◽  
Book Covers ◽  
Russian Military ◽  
The Military ◽  
European Diplomacy

This book covers one of the most important and persistent problems in nineteenth-century European diplomacy, the Eastern Question. The Eastern Question was essentially shorthand for comprehending the international consequences caused by the gradual and apparently terminal decline of the Ottoman Empire in Europe. This volume examines the military and diplomatic policies of Russia as it struggled with the Ottoman Empire for influence in the Balkans and the Caucasus. The book is based on extensive use of Russian archive sources and it makes a contribution to our understanding of issues such as the development of Russian military thought, the origins and conduct of the 1828–1829 Russo-Turkish War, the origins and conduct of the 1826–1828 Russo-Persian War and the Treaty of Adrianople. The book also considers issues such as the Russian army's use of Balkan irregulars, the reform of the Danubian Principalities (1829 –1834), the ideas of the ‘Russian Party’ and Russian public opinion toward the Eastern Question.

IN THE NAME OF THE SULTAN: HACI MUSTAFA PASHA OF BELGRADE AND OTTOMAN PROVINCIAL RULE IN THE LATE 18TH CENTURY

2012 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 129-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert W. Zens
Keyword(s):  
18Th Century ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
High Ranking ◽  
Late 18Th Century ◽  
The Military ◽  
Provincial Politics

AbstractThis article examines the administration of Hacı Mustafa Pasha, the military governor of Belgrade from 1793 to 1801. His appointment to this strategically located post was at odds with the contemporary trend in Ottoman provincial politics. Unlike most high-ranking provincial officials at this time, especially in the Balkans, Mustafa Pasha was not among the wealthy and militarily powerful ayan (local notables) but rather a career bureaucrat. His tumultuous and ultimately tragic administration reveals that his appointment was part of the attempt by Sultan Selim III (r. 1789–1807) to recentralize provincial governance. This study also provides a sociopolitical portrait of Belgrade and the surrounding region during the 18th century, as well as a brief look at the dangerous alliance of ayan and the janissaries.

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