Germanic Mythology in Music: Cultural Memory and Conflict within the Framework of Modern Globalization

The multi-layered enactment of a national past in music has been strongly intertwined with the usage of mythological elements. Having often been compiled as a coherent narrative during the emergence of the European nation-states (like the Finnish Kalevala), the mythological material has often been perceived as a form of historical truth and national justification. This focal role is also apparent in various music genres ranging from folk revival to metal in post-1989 Europe. Within the globalized context, however, local-national interpretations can collide with earlier nationalist appropriations. This complex and sometimes politically conflicting situation becomes particularly evident with groups falling back on symbols and narrations that had previously been employed by Nazi-Germany. While Nazi-Germany had, among others, tried replace the Christmas tradition with elements and songs from Germanic (and other) mythological sources, modern Neo-Nazi music groups often employ central mythological names (like Odin or Tyr) and iconic elements (like Vikings and warriors) in song lyrics and CD cover designs. However, while many covers and lyrics are legally forbidden in Germany, Scandinavian and Baltic groups (like the Faroese Viking metal group Tyr and the Latvian pagan metal band Skyforger) employ similar elements of Norse mythology, which are often combined with traditional material. Discussing selected case studies, this paper highlights central discursive points of colliding historical-national associations and individual interpretations of the mythological elements in musical contexts. How far can the material be disassociated from the earlier historical political usage and instrumentalization? Is this necessary ? And how can the specific global-local conflict points be approached by a theoretical framework ?

Ethnic Politics, Regime Support and Conflict in Central and Eastern Europe

Ethnicity and ethnic parties have often been portrayed as a threat to political stability. There is also no shortage of conflicts with an ethnic flavor. Yet, this book challenges the notion that the organization of politics in heterogeneous societies should necessarily overcome ethnicity. Rather, descriptive representation of ethnic groups arguably has potential to increase regime support and reduce conflict. The book studies partisan-descriptive representation of up to 130 ethnic groups in central and eastern European democracies. Ethnic minority parties are found to only run and succeed if they can expect electoral support sufficient to pass the electoral threshold. Conditional on gender and strategies of representation, ethnic representation increases satisfaction with democracy among the minority population. While protest rises given moderate levels of representation, it is reduced once ethnic groups have access to executives. In conclusion, a proportional vision of power-sharing between ethnic groups receives some qualified empirical support.

Nation, Narration and Islam: Memory and Governmentality in Germany

This article analyses narrations of German memories in relation to the incorporation of Islam into Germany. Memory narratives are not approached from the angle of identity, but as part of the continuous business of rationalizing politics inside and beyond the state. The citational use of narratives authorizes interventions in the process of government by constituting its objects, determining the means and aims of government and defining its authority. Narratives are a governmental practice, i.e. they connect politics narrowly defined with individual conduct, since narratives allow determination of a social context and what constitutes adequate behaviour within it. In this way, they help to orient practices of freedom. Acts such as the cultivating of an ethics of interreligious competition, involvement in specific forms of dialogue, or activism against Islamophobia and anti-Semitism derive meaning in part through such narratives, while simultaneously contributing new meaning.

The Conflict between Basescu and Tariceanu – A Governmental System Viewpoint

Semi-presidential systems of democratic governance risk ending up in a stalemate when it is not clear which of the two „heads” – head of State or head of Government – shall take the lead. The current political situation in Romania features some of the commonly observed characteristics of such an institutional blockade. However, after addressing these formal aspects of political Romania, the author argues for not forgetting to take into account the informal, actor-related factors. The nature of the Romanian political parties and party system seems to hinder the finding of a consensus needed to exit the self-imposed blockade. More specifically, it is the Democratic Party (PD) that is the key to understanding the recent developments. The Government of April the third has yet to prove its efficiency.

After-effects and after-effects and after-effects of after-effects: The multiple side effects of prospective memory

In a prospective memory task responding to a prospective memory target involves switching between ongoing and prospective memory task which can result in a slowing of subsequent ongoing task performance (i.e., an after-effect). Moreover, a slowing can also occur when prospective memory targets occur after the prospective memory task is deactivated (i.e., another after-effect). In this study, we investigated both after-effects within the same study. Moreover, we also tested whether the latter after-effects even occur on subsequent ongoing task trials. The results show, in fact, after-effects of all kinds. Thus, (1) correctly responding to prospective memory targets results in after-effects, a so far neglected cost on ongoing task performance, (2) responding to deactivated prospective memory targets also slows down performance, probably due to the involuntary retrieval of the intention, and (3) this slowing is present even on subsequent ongoing task trials, suggesting that even deactivated intentions are sufficient to induce a conflict that requires subsequent adaptation. Overall, these results indicate that performance slowing in a prospective memory experiment includes various kinds of sources, not only monitoring cost, and these sources may be understood best in terms of conflict adaptation.