The Third Yugoslavia

1998 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 115-141
Author(s):  
Oskar Gruenwald ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Historical Memory ◽  
Civic Culture ◽  
Spiritual Renewal ◽  
The South ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Universal Human Rights ◽  
South Slavs ◽  
Peace And Reconciliation ◽  
Individual Human

This essay offers hope that beyond the specter and tragedy of the Yugoslav civil war lie the prospects for peace, democratization, economic and political reconstruction, and the evolution of a democratic Third Yugoslavia. But, to realize this hope, there is a need for the development of a genuine civic culture and civil society in the Yugoslav successor states based on democratic values, pluralism, and tolerance, rooted in the conception of universal human rights, constitutionalism, and equality before the law. The South Slavs may have to retrieve their historical memory which predates the fateful divisions along ethnic, cultural, and religious lines. The Swiss model of autonomous cantons, four major languages, neutrality, but a pronounced common national identity is also instructive for democratic prospects of a possible future South Slav (con-) federation and peace in the Balkans, A proposed Illyrian Constitution would bind the South Slavs together, reconnecting individual human rights to community. Above all, moral and spiritual renewal are the necessary precondition for peace and reconciliation, as well as economic and political reconstruction and the genesis of a democratic Third Yugoslavia.

The Bridge to Eternity

1996 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 131-148
Author(s):  
Oskar Gruenwald ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Liberal Democracy ◽  
Former Yugoslavia ◽  
Spiritual Renewal ◽  
The South ◽  
The West ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Cultural Policies ◽  
Mountain Village ◽  
South Slavs

This essay considers Medjugorje, a small mountain village in Bosma-Hercegovina, as an icon or a bridge between God and man. The contemporary quest for national roots in the Balkans has led to cultural policies in the Yugoslav successor states which deny all common bonds among the South Slavs, resulting in a Kafkaesque civil war. Drawing on the crisis of liberal democracy and community in the West, the essay explores the prospects for peace in the former Yugoslavia, as reflected in Our Lady of Medjugorje's call for moral and spiritual renewal. It concludes that the quintessential, universal. Christian, and ecumenical Medjugorje message of peace represents a bridge to eternity, just as the historic Old Bridge in Mostar and the Višegrad Bridge over the Drina River are symbolic of a common South Slav history and destiny.

Federalism in Yugoslavia

1955 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 416-430 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Frankel
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Bosnia And Herzegovina ◽  
Territorial Disputes ◽  
Political Consciousness ◽  
The South ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Federal Constitution ◽  
South Slavs

Yugoslav federalism does not begin with the federal constitution adopted eight years ago. Federal ideas among the South Slavs followed the stirrings of nationalism and the struggle for independence at the end of the eighteenth and early in the nineteenth century as the logical solution for a situation in which the various tribes wished to be united but not unitary.With the exception of the Serbian Highlanders in Montenegro, who had been enjoying a precarious independence since 1697, the South Slav tribes were divided between the multi-national Ottoman and Hapsburg Empires. They generally showed little political consciousness either as separate tribes or as members of the Slav family. The first integrating movement among them began in the last three decades of the eighteenth century in the shape of vague Pan-Slav ideas stimulated by the Russian advance towards the Balkans. Pan-Slavism appealed both to many South Slav intellectuals and to the illiterate masses, but was too vague and too weak to counteract the various religious, linguistic, political, and historical differences among the tribes. Moreover, the relations between the three major tribes were disturbed by violent territorial disputes: Macedonia was the bone of contention between the Serbs and the Bulgarians, while Bosnia and Herzegovina were disputed by the Serbs and the Croats.

Belgrade Student Demonstrations, 1996-97

2001 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 155-174
Author(s):  
Oskar Gruenwald ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Turning Point ◽  
University Education ◽  
Civic Culture ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Universal Human Rights ◽  
Municipal Election ◽  
Student Demands

Belgrade University student demonstrations, 1996-97, represent a turning point in the emergence of a democratic civic culture and civil society in the former Yugoslavia. Large-scale student demonstrations were triggered by the regimens cancellation of the November 1996 municipal election victories by the united opposition, Zajedno, in more than a dozen cities throughout Serbia, Demonstrating independently of political parties, student demands concerned not only narrow issues of university education, funding and governance, but also much larger society-wide issues concerning democratic prospects for Serbia Student demonstrations helped achieve several important goals, including the reinstatement of the 1996 opposition victories, and hastened Milošević's departure. Belgrade students sought consciously to transcend Serbian nationalism, effectively challenging the regime, while distancing themselves from all political parties. Crucial in terms of overcoming the virulent nationalisms, exploited by political leaderships throughout the Balkans in the 1990s, was the students' quest for universal human rights, democracy, pluralism, tolerance, and an open society. Following Milošević's demise, the studem movement became institutionalized in Otpor as a genuine civil society public-interest group and unofficial watchdog.

scholarly journals EDUCATION OF THE SOUTH SLAVS AT KIEV THEOLOGICAL ACADEMY

2017 ◽  
pp. 9-18
Author(s):  
Galyna Sagan
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Professional Education ◽  
Foreign Students ◽  
Russian Empire ◽  
Educational Process ◽  
Police Management ◽  
The South ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
South Slavs ◽  
The Russian Empire

The article fully characterises education of the South Slavs at the Kiev Theological Academy according to the studying new archival documents. It was found the content of the educational process, the problems faced by foreign students and how they were solved in the academy. It is shown the Russian Empire authorities’ interest in the preparation of the clergy for the Balkans. It is exposed the solidarity of the South Slavic youth with the Ukrainian people concerning the non-acceptance of gendarmerie-police management methods in Ukraine. The fates of graduates after studying in Kiev are studied. The purpose of this study is to determine the reasons of education of the South Slavs at the Kiev Theological Academy, the content of the educational process and participation of the South Slavic youth in the public realities of contemporary Ukraine. In the early twentieth century and before the establishment of Soviet authority in Ukraine, the South Slavs received higher and professional education here. A small number of educational establishments at homeland, economic and political instability in the Balkans almost to the end of the First World War contributed to the moving of young people to foreign countries for education. The situation was used by countries, who inculcated their ideology on foreign students during the study process, justifying and ensuring the successful penetration of their policies on the lands of the South Slavs. Those students who studied in Ukraine, had to become the spokesmen for the interests of the Russian Empire in the Balkans. Actually, educational institutions successfully coped with these tasks. Thus, the Kiev Theological Academy defended and propagated the imperial ideas of tsarist Russia through education of foreigners in it. Selection of candidates from other countries for studying was not accidental. The religious factor was the leading in lobbying foreign policy interests of the Russian Empire. The South Slavs were represented by Bulgarians, Serbs, Montenegrins, Macedonians and Bosnians with Herzegovinians. The Croats and Slovenes were called Austrian Slavs at that time in Russia, and since they belonged to the Catholic world, the work with them was in other spheres. The South Slavs who studied at the KTA were plunged into the social and political processes that took place in Ukraine, and together with the Ukrainian intelligentsia and studentship formed the international educational process that lasted in Ukraine till the establishment of the Bolshevik regime. The content of unsent letters to the home of Balkan students indicated an understanding of the difference between what the higher-education teaching personnel of the Academy said and what they saw and heard on the Kyiv streets and other cities of Ukraine. The South Slavic youth expressed solidarity with the Ukrainian people concerning the non-acceptance of the gendarmerie-police management methods in Ukraine. The ideas of the Slavic consolidation and equality, declared by the Russian Empire and determined as the core of foreign policy activity, were not supported by the authorities on its lands. Understanding these circumstances, the South Slav students were cooled to imperial propaganda that Russia is the centre of Slavic unity and a fighter for the independence of the Balkan Slavs. Public moods of Ukrainian community significantly influenced the formation of such a position of the South Slavs.

scholarly journals Theories of Universal Human Rights and the Individual’s Perspective

2014 ◽  
Vol 25 ◽  
pp. 120-141
Author(s):  
Linda Walter
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Human Nature ◽  
Fundamental Question ◽  
Vertical Dimension ◽  
Scientific Debate ◽  
Important Group ◽  
Universal Human Rights ◽  
Sentimental Education ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Individual Human

The current scientific debate about the universality of human rights can be structured into a horizontal and a vertical dimension. Whereas the horizontal dimension is about the different ways one can approach the topic “human rights” from different disciplines, the vertical dimension is dealing with the fundamental question whether human rights are universal or particularistic. However, the debate lacks the view of the most important group: the individual human being. Consequently, this paper aims to bring the individual’s perspective on universal human rights into focus by a) striking a balance between universal and particularistic views on human rights and b) building on a realistic human nature in order to understand and embrace the individual’s conviction. The approach meeting these two criteria is a combination of Rainer Forst’s “right to justification” and Richard Rorty’s “sentimental education”. This is the only way to an individually backed and culturally sensitive universality.

scholarly journals Borderline: Frontiers of Peace

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 68-81
Author(s):  
Valerio Vincenzo
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Nobel Peace Prize ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Nobel Committee ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Silent Revolution ◽  
First Time ◽  
Peace And Reconciliation ◽  
History Books

From Portugal to Bulgaria, from Finland to Greece, photographer Valerio Vincenzo zigzagged along the length of nearly 20,000 kilometers of borders between the countries that are part of the European Union and/or the Schengen Area. Considering Europe’s history over the 19th and 20th centuries, full of scars, walls and trenches, these images document a silent revolution. Barely sixty years ago, the Schengen Area was merely a utopian notion. This photographic work shows a utopia that has become reality. Europe received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2012 for such an achievement. The Nobel Committee stated, ‘The union and its forerunners have for over six decades contributed to the advancement of peace and reconciliation, democracy and human rights in Europe.’  Today, the final words of this statement are being called into question, as indeed are the construction of Europe and the Schengen Area, too. Is Europe caught in a dilemma between its values and the pragmatic difficulty of enforcing them? Will the images included in this project end up relegated to history books, witnesses to a bygone age?  Borderline, Frontiers of Peace was awarded the 2013 Louise Weiss Prize for European Journalism, the first time that such an award has been granted to a photo project. The project has been exhibited numerous times, notably at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris in 2015, St. Petersburg (Russia) in 2016, Brest and Orléans (France), Zagreb and Vukovar (Croatia) in 2017, Sarajevo (Bosnia & Herzegovina) and the fortress of Salses (France) in 2018, Amiens (France), Berlin and Bamberg (Germany) in 2019, Tallinn (Estonia) and Lübeck (Germany) in 2020, and Strasbourg (France) and Cuneo (Italy) in 2021. Valerio Vincenzo is currently extending his project to the now peaceful borders of the Balkans. 

Foreigners' Rights to Work and Fair Labour Practices in South Africa: A Review of the South African Labour Legislation and Jurisprudence

2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Andre Mangu
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
South African ◽  
Bill Of Rights ◽  
The South ◽  
Legislation And Jurisprudence ◽  
Foreign Nationals ◽  
Lay Persons ◽  
Democratic State ◽  
Labour Legislation

After several decades of apartheid rule, which denied human rights to the majority of the population on the ground of race and came to be regarded as a crime against humanity, South Africa adopted its first democratic Constitution in the early 1990s. The 1996 Constitution, which succeeded the 1993 interim Constitution, is considered one of the most progressive in the world. In its founding provisions, it states that South Africa is a democratic state founded on human dignity, the achievement of equality, the advancement of human rights and freedoms. The Constitution enshrines fundamental human rights in a justiciable Bill of Rights as a cornerstone of democracy. Unfortunately, in the eyes of a number of politicians, officials and lay-persons, the rights in the Bill of Rights accrue to South African citizens only. Xenophobia, which has been rampant since the end of apartheid, seems to support the idea that foreigners should not enjoy these rights. Foreign nationals have often been accused of posing a threat to South African citizens with regard to employment opportunities. In light of the South African legislation and jurisprudence, this article affirms the position of the South African labour law that foreign nationals are indeed protected by the Constitution and entitled to rights in the Bill of Rights, including the rights to work and fair labour practices.

Coming Home to a Foreign Land

2000 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 20-26
Author(s):  
Michael Daxner
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
War And Peace ◽  
The Real ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Foreign Land ◽  
Final Curtain ◽  
Holding Back ◽  
Lack Of Knowledge

These days, the old Europe is moving towards its final curtain call. The war in the Balkans is a spectre which repeats and concludes all that happened in the last century; and a ghostly farce unrolls before us. Concepts like war and peace, the rights of nations, humanity and human rights are the conceptual covers of a happening now ripening into fateful maturity. Its primary causes were a tactical holding back, a lack of knowledge of the real circumstances, secret and openly expressed prejudices, and a shabby mentality of 'not getting involved'. As a result of this, all structures are being destroyed.

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