The Ukraine Crisis Reflections in the Speeches of USA and Russian Political Leaders

This paper focuses on the rhetoric of USA and Russian political leaders during the Ukraine crisis by analyzing changes appearing in their speeches during the different stages of the crisis. The goal of the analysis is to investigate the speeches delivered by political leaders of the United States and Russia, being important actors in the Ukraine crisis, by identifying both countries’ attitudes to one another, further intentions regarding the management of the crisis and changes of topics in each stage. The speeches of the following most influential politicians in foreign policy formation in the USA and Russia are analyzed: President Barack Obama, Secretary of State John Kerry and Vice President Joe Biden, President Vladimir Putin, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Prime Minister of Russia Dmitry Medvedev. The speeches were collected from the official websites of U.S. and Russian government institutions. The analysis revealed that from the beginning of the crisis the main tool in the Ukraine crisis was rhetoric. Western parties began to take real actions only later: sanctions on Russia were imposed, international organizations started to play more active role, ceasefire agreements were signed. In terms of communications strategies used by both countries, the USA rhetoric and its communication strategy as well as Russian leaders were using a combination of proactive and reactive strategies.

Russian New Art of Hybrid Warfare in Ukraine

The main aim of this paper is to analyse the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation. For the purposes of the paper, the theory of hybrid warfare was chosen as an analytical category. Throughout the paper, the concept of hybrid warfare is examined and applied on case study of Crimean annexation. Hybrid warfare, especially in connection with Russian actions in Crimea has been an intensely debated concept. There is an ongoing debate among scholars concerning the meaning of the concept, its existence and employment by the Russian Federation. This paper showed that the article of Valeriy Gerasimov – the incumbent Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Federation-invoked a new warfare strategy for the Russian Federation which was consequently for the very first time in its full spectre and effectivity employed on case of Crimean annexation in March 2014. Observing the application of the hybrid warfare in practice serves the purposes of countering its further potential application in post-Soviet space and Russian ‘near abroad’.

(In)efficiency of EU Common Foreign and Security Policy: Ukraine, Brexit, Trump and beyond

The main aim of this article is to explore and analyze key determinants of EU Common Foreign and Security Policy efficiency. For this purpose a 3C analytical approach is used, exploring EU foreign and security policy consistency, capacities and the dimension of cooperation. Article analyzes both horizontal and vertical, consistency of EU Foreign and Security policy especially with connection to Ukraine crises and diverging interests of EU member states. EU capacities are explored with main focus on military spending and challenges related to limited spending. EU military decline is put in contrast with new emerging regional powers. In the area of cooperation article is dedicated mainly to ineffective partnership with Turkey, cold attitude of Trump administration towards Europe and the implications of Brexit for EU foreign and security policy.

Two Dogs Fight and a Third Grabs the Bone. Reasons for the Electoral Success of Unexpected Candidates – the Croatian Political Scene after the Last Two Parliamentary Election Cycles (2015–2016)

The last two years in Croatian politics can be seen as an important turning point. The most recent two parliamentary election cycles (2015-2016), as well as the presidential race held a year earlier, were both more interesting and more unpredictable than the previous elections. The objective of this article is to analyse and identify their distinguishing features as well as their significance and implications for the further functioning of the Croatian political scene. Owing to the fact that in both electoral cycles an important voice in the shape of the ruling coalition went to the party that came third in the election and, also surprisingly, this was both a newly established formation and to a great extent with an anti-establishment appeal, particular attention is focused on the appearance on the party scene of new political groupings. The article attempts to place them within the framework of the existing new party typologies and point to the main reasons for their electoral success, as well as evaluating their chances for survival on the party scene.

National narration and Politics of Memory in post-socialist Georgia

The article is dedicated to analyse the politics of so called “historical memory” during the state-building and nation-building process in post-socialist Georgia After the Rose Revolution 2003, the new government that aimed at building the “new Georgia,” implementing radical changes in many key spheres, including institutions, readdressing the totalitarian past, faced number of problematic manifestations in political and cultural life in this post-Soviet country. The “politics of memory” became one of the key factors of reconstructing of “new, democratic, western Georgia”. This process can be evaluated as leading toward state nationalism. Analyzing the politics of memory, symbolism is the most notable attitude and that is why former President Mikheil Saakashvili used commemorative ceremonies continuously. The authors argue in favour of approach, that the so called “memory politics” is the integral part of one’s legitimacy building, but at the same time, it can be used as tool for reconsidering of Polity’s future and mobilization of population under the “citizenship” umbrella towards the strong loyalty to the actual and future state-building.

Slovenian Communist Legacy: After 25 Years of Independence of Slovenian Nation

It has been 25 years since Slovenia’s independence from Yugoslavia, but nevertheless it seems that Slovenia can not break its ties with the communist tradition, which for decades dictated and limited the life of Slovenians and hindered Slovenia’s development in general. Even transition (on economic and political filed) has failed, although in its beginnings it seemed that Slovenia would be a story of success. The paper deals with the rise of the Communist Party and the Communist regime and its impact on Slovenian developments till nowadays.

The Good, Bad, and Ugly of Populism: A Comparative Analysis of the U.S. and Slovakia

The dynamics of political campaigning is as unique as the people and party platforms that inhabit the campaign period. The progress of certain political personalities or of political parties themselves insure a positivity to the political process in contrast to statism. Not all change is welcome surely, but the fact that such activity occurs within pluralist democracy is a sign of vitality in both practice and principle. One such change in recent political campaigns has been the increased popularity of candidates and parties espousing populist platforms and rhetoric. While in the United States, such represented interest is historically based from the late nineteenth century, in Slovakia it is more recent, but no less significant in its historical roots. In the following paper the methodology of a comparative analysis is employed to investigate populism within the United States and Slovakia while utilizing the theoretical context of neoclassical realism that has populism in the national context: personalization of politics, catch-all policies, media centricity, professionalization and political marketing.

Constitutionalizing Power: How Do Rules Legitimize the Executive?

Reflecting upon recent political events, attention toward political legitimacy has been renewed within political science debate. However, the concept remains rather broad and elusive with few attempts to find a common way to measure it. An increasing number of scholars have recently examined the link between party regulation and political legitimacy. Building on this research, the current paper explores the role of regulation in legitimizing power. In particular, this project studies how rules endorse leaders. The paper discusses extant measurements of legitimacy and offers a new one. The new measure, Executive Legitimizing Index (ELI), is based on content analysis of constitutional texts in 30 European democracies and emphasizes the power that regulations give to the public to control the executive branch. The paper develops the index both conceptually and empirically and shows that there are significant differences in executive regulation among four pre-defined groups of democracies.

Baltic States - How to React to “New Warfare” in the Context of the Article V?

Hybrid warfare represents new security challenge for whole Europe. However, hybrid warfare cannot be considered as new phenomenon, Russian aggressive exercise of hybrid warfare (annexation of Crimean Peninsula) took all European states by surprise. It consists of effective combination of tools, such as, information warfare, psychological operations, cyber operations and use of special forces. Russian hybrid warfare is designed to directly challenge the cornerstone of the North Atlantic Treaty Alliance, the Article V., because it combines conventional and unconventional measures, which are difficult to predict and counter. NATO and EU member states are forced to develop new capabilities, to build new infrastructure and to strengthen the eastern boundary of the Alliance to successfully deter potential Russian aggression in its close neighbourhood. It is also very important to build inner resilience of the member states against Russian propaganda that has massively spread throughout Eastern and Central Europe.

The Politics of Security Deployment of Security Operatives to Jos Metropolis, Plateau State, Nigeria 2001-2014

The paper examines the politics of security deployment by the Federal Government of Nigeria to Jos, metropolis. A cross-sectional study was conducted and Public Opinion Theory adopted. Methodologically, mixed methods of data collection were conducted that involved the administration of 377 questionnaires to adult respondents, six In-Depth Interviews with religious and community leaders while three Key Informant Interviews with security personnel working with Special Task Force. The survey reveals that, the deployment of Mobile Police from 2001-2010 and the formation of Special Task Force in 2010 has generated mixed reactions and divergent perceptions among the residents of Jos metropolis. Majority of the ethnic groups that are predominantly Christians were more contented with the deployment of the Mobile Police whereas ethnic groups that are dominantly Muslims questioned the neutrality, capability, performance and strength of the Nigerian Police Force in managing the crises. The study recommends that, security personnel should display high degree of neutrality in order to earn the confidence of the residents and change their perceptions.