Salt no longer travels through the Bohemian Forest along the Golden Trail, but halophytic neophytes do

The Golden Trail, used for the transport of salt from alpine mines to the Czech Kingdom for centuries, was a crucial ancient trade route in the Central European region. The contemporary road I/4, copying the Golden Trail, plays the same role today. The I/4 is used year round with deicing salt, a common standard, applied for winter maintenance. Deicing salt is often used, even in sections where the I/4 passes through the Bohemian Forest and its protected areas. The effects of applying deicing salts on ecosystems in the region is well documented. In addition to many other effects, high concentrations of salt along the roads cause significant changes in plant communities. Plant species sensitive to salinity disappear and the abundance of halophytes increases. Roads are also trajectories for the migration of neophytes. Seeds or other propagules are transported with cargo or in car tires. In this paper, we present our findings on the pilgrimage of Plantago coronopus, a true halophyte, into the Bohemian Forest. We also describe the species’ colonisation strategy and human measures supporting its successful migration in a region of high conservation value.

Central European Tourist Flows: Intraregional Patterns and Their Implications

Understanding tourist spatial behaviours is essential for strategic planning and sustainable development. Especially at the city-level, data provide implications for spatial planning and transport governance. Intraregional tourist flows to cities contributed significantly to the total volume of tourists within the Central European region before the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak. Given the challenges that urban tourism is currently facing, intraregional tourist flows could be a strategic opportunity for future growth. As a comprehensive assessment of the tourist flows at this spatial level is lacking, the paper aims to evaluate the structure of these flows and discuss the factors that influence their spatial distribution. Statistical data analysis of tourist flows to selected cities in Central Europe is evaluated by multiple linear regression. The results show that the main factors affecting the distribution of tourist flows are air connection, the attractiveness of the destination, and the size of the source market. Tourist flows within Central Europe are fundamentally affected by Germany. This market can be considered the most important source of demand for inbound tourism. Germany's national ties with Austria and Switzerland generated 47% of all trips examined. In this case, the influences of historical ties and the broader socio-economic context are evident.

Identification of Environmentally Friendly Alternative for Laundry Detergent Packaging

Purpose: The objective of the study was to analyse and evaluate two alternative liquid detergent packaging systems from the point of view of their overall environmental impact. Using the LCA method, we have come to the conclusion that cardboard packaging is an alternative with a lower negative impact on the environment than an HDPE bottle. Methodology/Approach: The study is based on the LCA method implemented through the software openLCA, including available databases. Findings: The environmentally friendlier alternative of the detergent packaging is identified. The decisions about individual stages during LCA must be made with caution and well documented to ensure credibility of the results. Research Limitation/Implication: The findings of the presented study are limited by the available data used for the environmental impact assessment. The inventory analysis was performed for the conditions of the central European region. Originality/Value of paper: This study applies LCA methodology to present the details of a decision process involved in selecting better environmental alternative of the product. The information generated by the study is directly applicable in the industry.

Photovoltaic Facade Performance Evaluation

A high-rise building façade with integrated photovoltaic panels, located in the Central European region with temperate climatic conditions was tested. The PV façade was monitored for three years. Results of the PV system monitoring show that the façade positively influence the energy efficiency and reduction of carbon dioxide emissions from the building operation.

NATIVIST AND ANTI-LIBERAL NARRATIVES IN CONSERVATIVE POPULIST AGENDA IN CENTRAL EUROPE

Nativism does not only present a concept, but also an ideological framework as well as a political practice related to identity politics. In the article we firstly present the theoretical reflection of nativism and operationalise the most important terms and characteristics of this phenomenon. Later, we apply the concept of nativism to the analysis of conservative populist and/or nativist political actors in the Central European region. The analysis shows how nativism, as a relatively peripheral issue in the first 10–15 years after the democratic transition, became stronger in the next period characterised by a set of crises after 2008. The analysis demonstrates how the mainstream parties in Central Europe adopted the nativist and conservative populist agenda and implemented it into mainstream politics. Furthermore, the analysis shows how Central European nativism correlates with the long-term existence of antiliberal streams that were revitalised after the fall of Communist regimes. These anti-modern societal groups were reformulated as the counter-cosmopolitan camp within the polarisation process that is clearly visible in the political arena. Keywords: nativism; national conservatism; identity politics; Central Europe

Military-Political Threats in Connection with the Probable Military Escalation in the Central European Region

The article analyzes the military-political threats to Ukrainian statehood in regard to political events in the Russian Federation and a possible military escalation in the Central European region. It is noted that the Russian Federation authorities used the same strategy of regional destabilization with subsequent massive military intervention. The authoritarian Kremlin regime can protect itself exclusively with aggressive external policy and, finding itself on the rubicon of the loss of power, may resort to sharp destabilizing steps including the onset of a full-scale war in Central Europe. The geopolitical processes consisting of the latest events in the Republic of Belarus and the Russian Federation are analyzed. It is stated that as a result of the Kremlin’s aggressive policy, the entire Central European region can be at risk of military escalation. Analysis of the military-political situation indicates that in 2021 a bold plan of the Russian Federation, similar to the aggression against Georgia in 2008 and Ukraine in 2014, may be implemented in the Central European region, the process probably initiated by the armed confrontation in Belarus provoked by the Kremlin’s secret services. NATO military analysts have been considering the possibility of Russian military aggression against the Baltic states since 2014, with the most vulnerable point being the Polish-Lithuanian border between Belarus and Kaliningrad region of Russia, the so-called Suwalki Gap. The same vulnerable area of potential instability and hostilities is the border between Belarus and Ukraine. Under the conditions of the occupation of Crimea and the continuation of the undeclared war in Donbas, the hypothetical aggression of the Russian Federation in the North-Western regions of Ukraine threatens the Ukrainian statehood itself. Such a critical strategic threat requires urgent preventive action.

The Changing Memories of Jewish Budapest: Pre- and Post-Holocaust Representations of a City

Budapest was the home to one of the largest Jewish communities in the central European region before the Holocaust, and the history of the city becoming a metropolis at the turn of the twentieth century cannot be told without its Jewish inhabitants. This paper examines the scholarly established notion of the Jewish Budapest by including its modern history, literature, and the city's cultural heritage of architecture. The intersection of the several aspects establishes a conceptual framework that shows how the Jewish Budapest is considered a lively home before the Shoah, and remembered after the Shoah in a new light. The perception of Jewish Budapest presents itself as visible and invisible, and my line of investigation regards both as long as they are conveyed in the writings of Ernő Szép, Tamás Kóbor, Ferenc Molnár, Imre Kertész, and Susan Robin Suleiman. The memory of Budapest might be a colorful image turned into gray, yet eventually the artistic utterances after 1945 present the mnemonic device of a dual image of Budapest, resulting in a more complex vision.

The Paradox of Authenticity

The book on the Slovakian authentic folklore movement by the American scholar Joseph Grim Feinberg working in the Czech Republic is a special treat for those interested in dance anthropology. It is always inspiring to look at social and cultural phenomena about the East-Central European region through the eyes of a researcher who is an outlander; this applies to the realm of music and dance, too. The title suggests two fundamental issues that may be interesting and important for Hungarian readers acquainted with the world of folk dancing. One of them is the authenticity of folk-dance related practices; the other is folk dance politics, a topic addressed extensively in the international world of dance anthropology.

From Pennsylvania to Transylvania: August Ludwig Schlözer and the decentering of Enlightenment

This article analyzes the historical and political thinking of the eighteenth-century German historian August Ludwig Schlözer, in the context of the American War of Independence and the French Revolution. The article argues that Schlözer's disillusionment with these transformative events led him to identify the German settlers in medieval Transylvania as agents of a better Enlightenment. In doing so, Schlözer constructed the history of the Transylvanian German colony as an antithesis to American colonial endeavors, while redefining the frameworks and history of enlightened progress in both time and space. In this way, Schlözer translated the history of a marginal East–Central European region into a world-historical narrative.

Mykola Vegesh, Stepan Vidnianskyi. Augustyn Voloshin is the «Father of the Carpatho- Ukrainian People». Kyiv: Parliamentary Publishing House, 2020. 469 p.

The article analyzes the scientific publication «Avgustin Voloshin – «the father of the Carpathian Ukrainian people» by the authors of S. V. Vidnyansky and N. N. Vegesha, well-known specialists in Ukraine on the history of the countries of Central - Eastern Europe and such a Central European region as Transcarpathia. Therefore, they are perfectly familiar with the material and know the subject of the research. In their opinion, the process of national revival of Transcarpathian Ukrainians in the 30s is associated with the personality of A. Voloshin as an educational, socio-political and statesman of the 20-th century. The authors of the book noted that the figure of A. Voloshin belongs to the great people of Transcarpathia and equates him with the personality of O. Dukhnovich, who devoted his life to the struggle for the better fate of his people and called on his compatriots to «put an end to deep sleep». The authors of the study described A. Voloshin’s personality in a new complex way and characterized his activities.