Evgeny Khvalkov, The Colonies of Genoa in the Black Sea Region: Evolution and Transformation. Routledge Research in Medieval Studies, 11. New York and London: Routledge, 2018, xiv, 443 pp., 10 fig., 7 tables.

Mediaevistik ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 482-484
Author(s):  
Albrecht Classen

Our current and very urgent goal is to transform Medieval Studies into Global Medieval Studies, a thorny, challenging, maybe also daunting task, but one that we cannot turn away if we want to progress in our field. In fact, it does not matter whether we want to go that route or not; if we want to understand the Middle Ages both holistically and in specifics, we must simply accept that many people (merchants, soldiers, diplomats, artists, craftsmen, preachers, rulers, scholars, etc.) traveled not only throughout Europe, but also far beyond those limits, and encountered in that way countless other people who arrived from other directions. One most promising area of investigation that has already been long recognized is the group of merchants traveling to the Mongol court, prime among them Marco Polo. But he, his brothers, and numerous other individuals were, after all, only exceptions, and the Chinese, for instance, did not demonstrate any real interest in the West, apart from the Arabic world. However, if we turn to the Black Sea, an entirely different situation emerges that proves to be highly promising for future research.

2018 ◽  
Vol 20 (1(66)) ◽  
pp. 32-43
Author(s):  
B.V BURKINSKYI ◽  
O.I. LAIKO ◽  
V.P TALPA

Topicality. The urgency of the problem of tax instruments using in the role of means for stimulation of investment activity and of means for creating of a favorable investment climate nowadays grows due to the need for additional resources that are to be involved in the socio-economic development of Ukraine, as well as through the progress of administrative reform, which creates new opportunities for the use of taxes as tools for the stimulating of investment development. Aim and tasks. The purpose of the article is to substantiate the expediency of studying tax instruments as means for the stimulating of investment development, identifying of active and effective mechanisms for the attracting of investment funds for the development of the Ukrainian economy, taking into account international experience. Research results. The article thematically dedicated to the use of tax instruments for maintain of competitive investment policies at the regional, sub-regional, national levels, improving the investment climate in the region. The instruments are integrated into the mechanism with help of general conceptual idea - the ensuring of favorable conditions for the conducting of economic activity through the use of preferential indirect instruments that do not create differentiation between territories and entities, however, contribute to the renewal of capital of the entities. The European model of tax incentives for activation of foreign investments in Ukraine and the Black Sea region is considered and the main factors that have caused insufficient functional significance of tax instruments to stimulate investment development and to provide capital intensification are determined. There are also considered the American model of tax regulation of foreign investment, as well as the Asian model of tax regulation of foreign investment. The mechanism of combination of regulatory instruments in a single set, include measures of tax preferential support, organizational, guarantee-oriented support of investment projects realization on the territory of the Ukrainian Black Sea region, ways to increase the level of local budgets' self-incomes, to introduce the possibility of the determining and applying rates of taxes by local authorities self-governance within the limits set by the Tax Code of Ukraine. Conclusions. Strategic directions for the stimulating of business activity at the national and regional levels are substantial, but for this purpose, appropriate institutional support is required, namely, the relevant changes to the articles of the Tax Code of Ukraine. The prospects for future research in the field of regulation of investment activities are related with the formation of an institutional environment for the implementation of the regulatory function of taxes, the justification of the investment-efficient structure of the tax system.


Author(s):  
Vodotyka S. ◽  
Robak I.

The article is devoted to reviewing the book by the well-known Turkish historian İlber Ortaylı "Ottomans on Three Continents". The authors consistently analyze the main postulates of the work in the history of Ottoman possessions in the Crimea and the Northern Black Sea region, focusing on the role of the Ottoman Empire in the interaction of Black Sea civilizations in the late Middle Ages and early modern times.The authors prove that the history of the Ottoman Empire is essential for understanding the history of Ukraine. Ottoman influences significantly impacted the history of the Ukrainian people and other indigenous peoples of Ukraine – Crimean Tatars, Karaites and Krymchaks, Crimean Greeks.The authors agree with the thesis of the Turkish researcher about the significant and sometimes decisive influence of the Ottomans on the situation in the Black Sea region in the XV–XVIII centuries. Furthermore, the authors express their views on certain statements of the book. In particular, İlber Ortaylı proves that the Ottoman Empire was a "state of the Middle Eastern Islamic type". Its presence in the Black Sea resulted in the interaction of Islamic Mediterranean civilization with Eastern European Orthodoxy and Ukraine were at the centre of this interaction. However, the authors cannot agree with the historian's statement about the primary basis of the empire – the system of the state, especially military, slavery (devshirme). It allowed to creation of a vast empire, The Sublime or Ottoman Porte. However, slavery could not create social mechanisms of progress. The civilizational basis of the Ottoman Empire was its steppe, Turkic-steppe, essence.In the Ottoman Empire, Western modernization borrowings were superficial, served utilitarian-pragmatic purposes, and did not change the foundations of civilization. Such selectable reforms were the reason why the Omans lost their possessions in the Crimea and the Northern Black Sea region to the Russian Empire in the eighteenth century. Significantly, both empires claim the imperial, not civilizational, heritage of the Roman Empire. The intelligence emphasizes that these claims are not sufficiently substantiated.Key words: İlber Ortaylı, Ottoman Empire, heritage, history of Ukraine, Northern Black Sea Coast, Crimea. Стаття присвячена огляду-рецензії книги відомого турецького історика Ільбера Ортайли «Османи на трьох континентах». Автори послідовно проаналізували основні постулати праці в координатах історії османських володінь в Криму і Північному Причорномор’ї, приділивши головну увагу ролі Османської імперії у взаємодії цивілізацій Чорномор’я у періоди пізнього середньовіччя і раннього модерного часу.Доведено, що історія Османської імперії має важливе значення для розуміння історії України. Османські впливи відіграли значну роль в історії українського народу та інших корінних народів України – кримських татар, караїмів і кримчаків, кримських греків.Автори погоджуються з тезою турецького дослідника про значний, а часом визначальний, вплив Османів на ситуацію у Чорномор’ї у ХV–ХVІІІ ст. та висловлюють свої міркування щодо окремих положень праці. Зокрема, І. Ортайли кваліфіковано доводить, що Османська імперія була «державою близькосхідно-ісламського типу» і її присутність у Чорномор’ї мала наслідком взаємодію ісламської середземноморської цивілізації зі східноєвропейською православною, причому Україна знаходилась у центрі цієї взаємодії. Однак, не можна погодитись з твердженням історика щодо головної основи імперії – системи державного, передусім військового, рабства (девшірме). Вона дозволило створити величезну імперію, Сяючу Порту, але рабство не може створити суспільних механізмів поступу. Цивілізаційною основою Османської імперії стала її степова, тюрксько-степова, сутність. В Османській імперії західні модернізаційні запозичення були поверховими, служили утилітарно-прагматичним цілям і не змінювали цивілізаційних основ. Власне це і стало основною причиною того, що у ХVІІІ ст. Омани втратили свої володіння в Криму і Північному Причорномор’ї, які дістались Російській імперії. Показово, що обидві імперії висувають претензії на імперську, а не цивілізаційну, спадщину Римської імперії. У розвідці наголошується, що ці претензії не є достатньо обґрунтованими. Ключові слова: І. Ортайли, Османська імперія, спадщина, історія України, Північне Причорномор’я, Крим.


Author(s):  
Evgeniy Paskary ◽  
Andrey Herzen

Problems of research of the territorial development of the old-developed regions are due to the duration and extraordinary saturation of historical processes that flowed and continue in them. The study of changes in the territories of states and various entities is important not only for understanding the past: local and regional conflicts whose roots often go deep into centuries, remain for a long time and continue these days, territorial claims are relevant now. This is especially evident on the example of such regions of oldest development, as the Black Sea region. Historic-cartographical studies, systematization of previously known and newly identified sources, the analysis of old geographical maps and plans allow us to form a holistic picture of the evolution of space, its territorial structure, as well as the functional role of one or another place in the past and present. In the article on the example of Bessarabia—the historic-geographical region of the North-Western Black Sea coast—the most important cartographic works presented, being key for certain stages of its historic-geographical evolution and development of cartography as a whole: the Antiquity and the Middle Ages (when the first geographical maps appeared), the 15th–18th centuries (when the toponym under study was first applied into maps, and detailed topographic maps began to be created) and the 19th–20th centuries (when political events again changed the semantics of the toponym Bessarabia). It is shown how geographical representations of the region transformed during different historical periods. The content of the toponym denoting region is considered, at different times related to different sections of the Black Sea coast and included various territories, as well as its use today as a political tool reflecting actual territorial claims.


Paléorient ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 173-182
Author(s):  
Bleda S. Düring ◽  
Bernard Gratuze

2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 161-185
Author(s):  
Małgorzata Podolak

Views on the institution of direct democracy have changed during the period of democratic transition. The various advantages and positive effects of direct democracy have been confirmed by the practice of some democratic countries. Its educational and political activation value for society was also noted, without which civil society cannot form. The referendum is especially treated as the purest form of correlation between the views of society and the decisions of its representatives. In a situation where two representative bodies are present – the parliament and the president – a referendum is considered a means of resolving disputes between them in important state affairs. The referendum is nowadays becoming more than just a binding or consultative opinion on a legislative act, especially a constitution. First and foremost, it is important to see the extension of the type and scope of issues that are subject to direct voting. Apart from the traditional, i.e., constitutional changes, polarising issues that raise considerable emotion have become the subject of referenda. Problems of this type include, in particular, moral issues, membership in international organisations, and so-called ‘New Policy’. This article presents the role and importance of the referendum as an institution shaping the democratic systems of the Black Sea Region.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emil Oynakov ◽  
Liliya Dimitrova ◽  
Lyubka Pashova ◽  
Dragomir Dragomirov

<p>Low-laying territories along the Black Sea coastal line are more vulnerable to the possible high (long) waves due to tsunami events caused by strong earthquakes in the active seismic regions. Historically, such events are rare in the Black Sea region, despite some scientific evidence of tsunamis and their recordings through continuous sea-level observations with tide gauges built in certain places along the coast. This study analyses seismic data derived from different international earthquake catalogues - NEIC, ISC, EMSC, IDC and Bulgarian national catalogue (1981 - 2019). A catalogue of earthquakes within the period covering the historical to the contemporary seismicity with magnitudes M ≥ 3 is compiled. The data are processed applying the software package ZMAP, developed by Stefan Wiemer (http://www.seismo.ethz.ch/en/research-and-teaching/products-software/software/ZMAP/index.html). The catalogues' completeness is calculated to assess the reliability of the historical data needed to assess the risk of rare tsunami events. The prevailing part of the earthquakes' epicentres are in the seismically active regions of Shabla, the Crimean peninsula, the east and southeast coast of the Black Sea forming six main clusters, which confirmed previous studies in the region. In these areas, several active and potentially active faults, which can generate tsunamigenic seismic events, are recognized.</p><p><strong>Acknowledgements: </strong>The authors would like to thank the Bulgarian National Science Fund for co-funding the research under the Contract КП-СЕ-КОСТ/8, 25.09.2020, which is carried out within framework of COST Action 18109 “Accelerating Global science In Tsunami HAzard and Risk analysis” (AGITHAR; https://www.agithar.uni-hamburg.de/).</p>


Author(s):  
George Gotsiridze

The work, on the one hand, highlights the mission of Europe, as an importer of knowledge, which has for centuries been the center of gravity for the whole world, and, on the other hand, the role of the Black Sea Region, as an important part of the Great Silk Road, which had also for a long time been promoting the process of rap-prochement and exchange of cultural values between East and West peoples, until it became the ‘inner lake’ of the Ottoman Empire, and today it reverts the function of rapproching and connecting civilizations. The article shows the importance of the Black Sea countries in maintaining overall European stability and in this context the role of historical science. On the backdrop of the ideological confrontation between Georgian historians being inside and outside the Iron Curtain, which began with the foundation of the Soviet Union, the research sheds light on the merit of the Georgian scholars-in-exile for both popularization of the Georgian culture and science in Eu-rope and for importing advanced (European) scientific knowledge to Georgia. Ex-change of knowledge in science and culture between the Black Sea region and Europe will enrich and complete each other through impact and each of them will have unique, inimitative features.


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