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For some legal philosophers, if a law is procedurally correct, enacted in ways constitutionally recognised and agreed upon, then the content is of no significance. It is a “good” law, no matter what it does or justifies. The question of one's consent or opposition to any particular law is extraneous to the legality and is regarded merely as a political matter. The assumption is that a certain procedure and logic in law creation has taken place, and the law can be altered by a change in political leaders in a subsequent political election. However, this view and assumption obscure an uncomfortable fact. Some laws can be “bad” or “immoral.” Critical legal theory suggests that there...
A comprehensive analysis of how the Yugoslav successor states have coped with the challenges of building democracy since 1990.
Embedded Autocracy: Hungary in the European Union considers the new Hungarian autocracy as a political regime that is deeply entrenched in the make-up of Hungarian society. The deterioration of the social conditions of democracy did not begin in 2010, when Viktor Orbán came to power, so it cannot be reduced to a leadership issue only. András Bozóki and Zoltán Fleck avoid the trap of historical determinism as well. The Orbán's regime is not based solely on the autocratic traits of the leader, nor on simply institutional failures, but on social contexts and cultural configurations. The analysis employed in this book is complex. Hungary's democratic future depends on our ability to underst...
“This book brings fresh light to previously marginalized subject in German history. It is an original approach, up-to-date written without scholarly jargon, easily accessible to students, both at undergraduate and graduate. It is highly focused departing from the usual “histories” of a single country arguing for the “two German states”, and the three political systems.”- Prof. Dr. László Kürti, Institute of Applied Social Sciences, University of Miskolc, Hungary This book contrasts three very different incarnations of Germany – the totalitarian Third Reich, the communist German Democratic Republic, and the democratic Federal Republic of Germany up to 1990 – in terms of the...
Orthodox Churches, like most religious bodies, are inherently political: they seek to defend their core values and must engage in politics to do so, whether by promoting certain legislation or seeking to block other legislation. This volume examines the politics of Orthodox Churches in Southeastern Europe, emphasizing three key modes of resistance to the influence of (Western) liberal values: Nationalism (presenting themselves as protectors of the national being), Conservatism (defending traditional values such as the “traditional family”), and Intolerance (of both non-Orthodox faiths and sexual minorities). The chapters in this volume present case studies of all the Orthodox Churches of the region.
The increasing radicalization of political life in most countries in Europe lends special relevance to studies of the antifascist legacies on the continent. This insightful collection of essays is an in-depth review of antifascism in Slovenia, setting it in the context of related movements elsewhere in Europe. The period treated by the 19 essays comprises the interwar period, World War Two, and the post-war decades. The comparative and transnational perspectives advanced by the volume change our understanding of antifascism. The essays deal with the right-wing but also left-wing instrumentalization of antifascism, with a particular focus on the communist and post-communist periods. The authors point out that antifascism comes in various strains, whether inspired by liberalism, social democracy, communism, monarchism, anarchism, or even Christian conservatism. The contributors bring to light several overlooked antifascist actors, campaigns, and organisations, mostly in Slovenia and the Adriatic area.
This book offers an alternative perspective to the reigning socio-political and economic approaches to evaluating media systems and why and how they function. Peter Gross outlines a cultural model, a "kaleidoscopic cultural prism," for assessing the nature and functioning of these systems. By testing this model in one Eastern European country, Romania, Gross contributes to existing scholarship on media theory, media and transformation, East and Central European media, Romanian media, and East and Central European transformations in general. Awareness of the inherent negatives in the cultural bricolage accumulated over the centuries while Romanians lived under physical, administrative, and ideological dominance of various empires is increasingly sown among the new generations. This reality makes a culture-driven understanding of Romania’s media system even more urgent and meaningful for comprehending the evolving transformation. Scholars of communication, media studies, and Eastern European studies will find this book of particular interest.
Southeast European politics cannot be understood without considering ethnic minorities. This book is a comprehensive introduction to ethnic political parties.
The dramatic history of Russia proves fertile ground for laughter in this volume of humorous verse by the author of Pets of the Great Dictators. Sabrina P. Ramet is a serious academic with a seriously funny side. She has made major contributions to European history with her scholarly work on the former Yugoslavia. But her most unique contribution may be the well-informed and wackily executed poems in this volume. No Russian is safe from Sabrina’s hammer-and-sickle wit. Even the most fearsome and formidable—Lenin, Stalin, Peter the Great, and many others—are shown to be buffoons in this collection of satirical poems as dry as a straight shot of vodka.
This book explores the stagnation of democracy in the Western Balkans over the last decade. The author maps regional features of rising authoritarianism that mirror larger global trends and, in doing so, outlines the core mechanisms of authoritarian rule in the Balkans, with a particular focus on Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia. These mechanisms include the creation of constant crises, the use of external powers to balance outside influences, as well as state capture. The authoritarian patterns exist alongside formal democratic institutions, resulting in competitive authoritarian regimes that use social polarization to retain power. As the countries of the Western Balkans aspire, at least formally, to join the European Union, authoritarianism is often informal.