Search

Begin New Search Topic International Affairs Content Type Special Report Publishing Institution Centre for East European Studies, University of Warsaw

1. Trump, America and Eastern Europe

Author:
Pawal Kowal
Publication Date:
06-2018
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Centre for East European Studies, University of Warsaw
Abstract:
What challenges does East Central Europe face today? Now fully sovereign, the countries of the region seek new partnerships globally, address new and old problems locally, and engage their neighbours to tackle issues of common interest. This, the eighth edition of the Warsaw East European Review (WEER) is the consequence of the 2017 Warsaw East European Conference, entitled “East Central Europe vis-a-vis Global Challenges”. Some ninety scholars met and presented their views over four days of meetings in Warsaw in July 2017. The editors invited those with particularly timely remarks to submit their essays for publication, and have included a discussion of the WEER editorial board
Topic:
International Relations and International Affairs
Political Geography:
Europe

2. What’s Left of the Soviet Union Warsaw East European Review Editorial Discussion

Author:
Pawal Kowal and John S Micgiel
Publication Date:
11-2017
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Centre for East European Studies, University of Warsaw
Abstract:
“All we have left of the Soviet Union are jokes...” I’d like to ask you all somewhat perversely, besides jokes, is there any good memory left behind from this empire? Did the Soviet Union leave anything good behind? I mean the Soviet Union not as the Soviet Union itself, but also as the whole region, in other words the Warsaw Pact countries, as well as other communist countries and parties in the world. So, we see the empire as Alexei Salmin, the Russian political scientist, views it – as a concentrated orb: the Russian Federation, around it the USSR, then the Warsaw Pact, followed by other communist countries and finally the Comintern, and after its dissolution, parties cooperating with the Kremlin from all over the world. So, we see the entire empire, not just the Soviet Union, and the question is this – did it leave anything good behind? Surely every empire leaves something good behind
Topic:
International Relations, International Affairs, and Geopolitics
Political Geography:
Poland

3. Contemporary Russia: Authoritarian or Totalitarian?

Author:
Roman Bäcker
Publication Date:
11-2017
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Centre for East European Studies, University of Warsaw
Abstract:
Questions regarding definitions of authoritarianism and totalitarianism date from the interwar period. This article draws on the classic approaches and argues that the definition of Juan Linz, with changes suggested by Roman Bäcker (2011), and may o er a solid base for understanding the location of each non-democratic regime on a continuum determined by two extreme ideal types: authoritarianism and totalitarianism. e former is de ned here by three essential features: bureaucratic sovereignty (or siloviki), social apathy and emotional mentality. e latter is identified by references to: state-party apparatus sovereignty, mass and forced mobilisation, and political gnosis. these categories are useful to deal with the research problem considering where Russia is on this continuum, after the annexation of Crimea. It requires, however, carrying out an in-depth analysis on three levels: sovereignty, social behaviour and social consciousness. is article aims to reveal how to identify and approach these analytical levels.
Topic:
International Affairs and Authoritarianism
Political Geography:
Russia

4. Communication of Ethnic Groups in the Public Space: the Case of Daugavpils

Author:
Vladislav Volkov and Oksana Ruzha
Publication Date:
11-2017
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Centre for East European Studies, University of Warsaw
Abstract:
Interethnic communication is viewed as a form of social communication that happens “between people of different cultures”. Researchers associate the importance of studying such communication with the need to analyse the possibilities for mutual understanding of effective interaction between people of different cultures (Rogers, Hart, Miike 2002, p. 5, 7). Communication between people of different cultures can encompass a wide range of characteristics and goals – from the desire to put forward legitimate claims of ethnic identity to bias against other groups, from the establishment of associative relationships between groups prior to their dissociation (Kim 2006, p. 284, 291), from imposing the dominant culture’s standards and exclusion of non-dominant cultures from public life to the positive recognition of ethno-cultural minorities in the common cultural space (Young 1996, p. 29), etc.
Topic:
Ethnic Conflict and International Affairs
Political Geography:
Eastern Europe

5. The Crimean Crisis through the Perspective of Russia-NATO relations

Author:
Richat Sabitov
Publication Date:
11-2017
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Centre for East European Studies, University of Warsaw
Abstract:
Russian foreign policy and European security is continuing to receive special attention in light of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. An analysis of Russia- NATO relations is necessary to understand Moscow’s behaviour in the so-called “near abroad” – the territory of the former Soviet republics. It is, therefore, important to study Russia’s reaction to Ukrainian aspirations towards Europe and the implications it holds for the Crimean Peninsula’s status
Topic:
International Security and International Affairs
Political Geography:
Crimea

6. How the Socialist Economy was destroyed in the USSR (One reason for the collapse of the country)

Author:
Rudolf Pikhola
Publication Date:
11-2017
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Centre for East European Studies, University of Warsaw
Abstract:
On 25 September 1990, one of the rst meetings of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of Russia was held in the building of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR. e agenda consisted of the issue of ensuring the economic sovereignty of Russia in the USSR. Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Yuri Skokov, responsible for industrial policy, spoke with bitterness about his meeting with Minister of Metallurgy of the USSR Seraphim Baibakov: “We spoke to him about our sovereignty, and he said: ‘I’m sorry, but last year I became an owner of property and a legal successor of state property.’ Kolpakov became Krupp. Now he creates 10-15 companies, leaving a small management structure. It is presidential rule in the steel-casting complex.”
Topic:
International Affairs
Political Geography:
Russia

7. Virtual Social Networks in Post-Soviet and Western Societies (Analysis based on Facebook, VK and Odnoklassniki)

Author:
Kateryna Nasonova
Publication Date:
11-2017
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Centre for East European Studies, University of Warsaw
Abstract:
Nowadays virtual social networks have become the most frequently visited Internet resources. Although the Internet space exists as an open area of communication – overcoming linguistic, spatial and temporal barriers – certain internet products, like social networks, are gaining popularity in particular geographical areas. For example, Facebook, which is popular all over the world, failed to gain much of a foothold in countries of the former USSR. ere, the Facebook niche is dominated by such networks as VKontakte and Odnoklassniki. It shows that virtual social networks are a re ection of the community functioning in real-time, space and area. Social network users are not relieved of the burden of group, religious or ethnic identity, nor the ideology of the dominant society in the process of virtual communication. Such virtual activity becomes an expression of the system of coordinates and philosophical orientations that emerges during the process of socialization. Further, we can presume that the unpopularity of Facebook in former countries of the USSR is due to the impact of the post-Soviet mentality on the formation of virtual social networks, like VKontakte and Odnoklassniki. To con rm this thesis, we conducted a comparative analysis of three virtual social networks: VKontakte, Odnoklassniki and Facebook. these sites are quite similar in structure and function. However, they distinguish themselves from one another through the conceptual framework around which their user audience communication is built.
Topic:
International Affairs and Social Media
Political Geography:
Global Focus

8. The Georgia-NATO Strategic Partnership and Regional Security – The Wales and Warsaw NATO Summits

Author:
Vakhtang Maisaia
Publication Date:
11-2017
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Centre for East European Studies, University of Warsaw
Abstract:
he NATO Wales and Warsaw Summits held in 2014 and in 2016, were historic events due to the complex processes associated with them. The Summits have generated much discussion and are comprised of decisive issues and decisions. In the last Warsaw Summit, up to ten documents were adopted, including the final communique, which was for the first time quite “thick” for and more detailed, compared to previously adopted documents (about 139 items). For the first time in the last few decades, the European Union and NATO came to a consensus and adopted a common declaration, where they expressed their united position on common problems within the frameworks of Transatlantic security, and agreed on plans for further strategic cooperation (EU-NATO Joint Declaration 2016). Most importantly, the representatives of both organisations declared a common approach toward threats emanating from the East and South (i.e. Russia and ISIS). At this stage, the Alliance identi ed three geostrategic special regions for more active operations in the context of strategic defence and deterrence. ose regions became the main issue of the summit: the Baltic Sea, the Black Sea and the Aegean Sea. NATO must boost its support for the Southern ank via crisis management capabilities and strengthened partnerships (Lorenz “NATO at a Critical Crossroads”, 11). In general, NATO has returned to a collective defence strategy. is is a new game where the South Caucasus is becoming a “red frontier” line between the main actors: NATO and Russia. It seems that the priorities of NATO and Russia in the region are evolving within the framework of the so-called “security dilemma”, where both parties are trying to build up their military capabilities and tools of political pressure on the countries of the region, competing with each other in various geostrategic dimensions. is includes intensive NATO military exercises in Georgia and implementation of the Comprehensive Assistance Package, as well as strengthening military potential in the territories of occupied Abkhazia and South Ossetia, not to mention the establishment of a joint air defence system with Armenia, and strengthening the Caspian Flotilla by Russia.
Topic:
NATO, International Trade and Finance, and International Affairs
Political Geography:
Global Focus

9. Forward

Author:
John S Micgiel and Pawel Kowal
Publication Date:
11-2017
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Centre for East European Studies, University of Warsaw
Abstract:
Twenty- five years ago, we bade farewell to the Soviet Union, but after a quarter- century we still feel how much of its empire it left behind. It was not an “ordinary” empire because its essential feature was a totalitarian system. ideological pressure of Soviet Russia has changed the social structures of great swathes of the globe. e legacy of the USSR is a fascinating research topic, unfortunately today one rarely raised by researchers.
Topic:
International Affairs
Political Geography:
Russia

10. Contributors

Author:
Pawel Kowal
Publication Date:
11-2017
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Centre for East European Studies, University of Warsaw
Abstract:
List of contributors in latest review
Topic:
International Affairs
Political Geography:
Global Focus