The Multilateralisation of Soviet Bloc Security: The Hungarian Revolution from an Eastern European Perspective

The Hungarian Revolution is often analysed in a national context or from the angle of Hungarian-Soviet relations. From this perspective, the Eastern European satellites seem mere puppets and the Soviet bloc a monolith. Archival evidence nevertheless shows that the Kremlin actually attempted to build a new kind of international relations after Stalin’s death in 1953, in which the Eastern European leaders would gain more scope for manoeuvre. This attempt at liberalisation even facilitated the uprisings in Hungary in 1956. Avoiding a teleological approach to the Hungarian Revolution, this article argues that the Soviet invasion was neither inevitable, nor wholly unilateral. Khrushchev even sought to legitimise the invasion in bilateral and multilateral consultations. There was a mutual interest in sacrificing Hungary’s sovereignty to safeguard the communist monopoly on power. This multilateralisation of Soviet bloc security is an important explanatory factor in an analysis of the Revolution and its repercussions in Eastern Europe.

Public service motivation in public and nonprofit service providers: The cases of Belarus and Poland

The work motivation construct is central to the theory and practice of many social science disciplines. Yet, due to the novelty of validated measures appropriate for a deep cross-national comparison, studies that contrast different administrative regimes remain scarce. This study represents an initial empirical effort to validate the Public Service Motivation (PSM) instrument proposed by Kim and colleagues (2013) in a previously unstudied context. The two former communist countries analyzed in this dissertation—Belarus and Poland—followed diametrically opposite development strategies: a fully decentralized administrative regime in Poland and a highly centralized regime in Belarus. The employees (n = 677) of public and nonprofit organizations in the border regions of Podlaskie Wojewodstwo (Poland) and Hrodna Voblasc (Belarus) are the subjects of study. ^ Confirmatory factor analysis revealed three dimensions of public service motivation in the two regions: compassion, self-sacrifice, and attraction to public service. The statistical models tested in this dissertation suggest that nonprofit sector employees exhibit higher levels of PSM than their public sector counterparts. Nonprofit sector employees also reveal a similar set of values and work attitudes across the countries. Thus, the study concludes that in terms of PSM, employees of nonprofit organizations constitute a homogenous group that exists atop the administrative regimes. ^ However, the findings propose significant differences between public sector agencies across the two countries. Contrary to expectations, data suggest that organization centralization in Poland is equal to—or for some items even higher than—that of Belarus. We can conclude that the absence of administrative decentralization of service provision in a country does not necessarily undermine decentralized practices within organizations. Further analysis reveals strong correlations between organization centralization and PSM for the Polish sample. Meanwhile, in Belarus, correlations between organization centralization items and PSM are weak and mostly insignificant. ^ The analysis indicates other factors beyond organization centralization that significantly impact PSM in both sectors. PSM of the employees in the studied region is highly correlated with their participation in religious practices, political parties, or labor unions as well as location of their organization in a capital and type of social service provided.^

China's Involvement in the Hungarian Revolution, October-November 1956

The 1956 crises in the Soviet Bloc states, and the Hungarian October events in particular, had a profound impact on China's international and domestic policies. The Chinese Communist Party leadership – party chairman Mao Zedong in particular – had by the end of mid-1950s begun to conceive of "a great Chinese revolution," which would largely take the form of large-scale industrial modernization. At the same time, China's awareness that it could develop into a leading player in the international socialist camp led Mao and his colleagues to actively intervene on the East European scene, posing an implicit challenge to the Soviet dominance in the bloc. The apparent desire of the Hungarian and Polish people to break free from Stalinist socialism, and the real risk, as Mao saw it, of the bloc foundering, convinced the Chinese Party that only reforming institutional socialism and revising the Stalinist pattern of inter-state relations could keep the camp intact.

«Imagine, c’est le socialisme et personne ne s’en va» : l’intelligentsia littéraire est-allemande et la chute du mur de Berlin

En 1989, la Pologne, la Hongrie, la Tchécoslovaquie et la République démocratique allemande (RDA) furent secouées par des mouvements de protestations qui précipitèrent la dissolution de leur régime communiste. Il est souvent admis, dans l’historiographie comme dans la mémoire populaire, que les intellectuels, dont plusieurs écrivains, ont joué un rôle déterminant lors de ces bouleversements. Or, l’analyse de la révolution en Allemagne de l’Est et des prises de position de son intelligentsia littéraire démontre qu’une telle conclusion s’applique mal à cet État : les auteurs phares de la RDA, qui se sont pourtant présentés pendant et après la révolution comme des victimes et des opposants au régime, n’ont jamais partagé les revendications anticommunistes de leurs concitoyens et ont conservé un discours socialiste. Ce mémoire entend expliquer cette réaction particulière des écrivains les mieux établis de l’Allemagne de l’Est – soit Christa Wolf, Heiner Müller, Stefan Heym, Volker Braun et Christoph Hein. En étudiant leurs textes non fictifs et en analysant la relation qu’ils entretenaient avec le régime, la population et l’idéologie promue en RDA, nous démontrerons que ces auteurs avaient développé, avant l’ouverture du mur de Berlin, une stratégie d’action alliant loyauté socialiste et critique de l’autoritarisme, ce qui leur avait permis de cumuler un important capital social et culturel. À l’automne 1989 et lors du processus de réunification allemande, l’intelligentsia littéraire a en fait agi en fonction de cette même stratégie ; celle-ci, toutefois, n’était pas adaptée aux nouvelles conditions sociales.

DIGITAL HISTORY: DESIGNING VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENTS THAT SUPPORT CRITICAL THINKING AND IDEA EXCHANGE, MOTIVATE AND ENGAGE USERS

Thesis (Master, Education) -- Queen's University, 2016-08-29 15:56:53.748

Playing with tension; national charisma at Euro 2012

European National football came together in the summer of 2012 for the 14th occasion. This book sets out to examine the enduring social tensions between supporters and authorities, as well as those between local, national and European identities, which formed the backdrop to the 14th staging of the European National football tournament, Euro2012. The context of the tournament was somewhat unique from those staged in previous years, being jointly hosted for the first time by two post-Communist nations still in the process of social and economic transition. In this respect, the decision to stage Euro 2012 in Poland and Ukraine bore its own material and symbolic legacies shaping the tournament: the unsettling of neo-liberal imaginings and emergent ‘East-West’ fears about poor infrastructure, inefficiencies and corruption jostled with moral panics about racism and fears surrounding the potentially unfulfilled consumerist expectations of west European supporters. The book seeks to explore the ideologies and practices invoked by competing national sentiments and examine the social tensions, ambiguities and social capital generating potentials surrounding national, ethnic, European identity, with respect to national football teams, supporters and supporter movements.

The Proceedings of the South Carolina Historical Association

Annually, the association publishes a journal, The Proceedings, which consists of papers presented at the annual meeting. The Protestant Missionary in China: Problems of the First Treaty Period, 1842-1860 by Gordon K. Harrington French Communism and the Non-Communist Intellectuals, 1949 by Frederick F. Ritsch The Charles Town Board of Police, 1780-1782: A Study in Civil Administration under Military Occupation by George S. McCowen, Jr. Racism in the Administrations of Governor Cole Blease by Ronald D. Burnside The Twentieth Century: Age of the Dictators by Preston W. Slosson

Comment expliquer l’absence de conflit religieux dans un pays multiconfessionnel? Cas de l’Albanie

Huntington avait-il raison lorsqu’il déclarait que la religion serait un élément sujet à diviser ? Loin de déclarer qu’il existe une recrudescence de conflits dans le monde, force est de constater que la dimension religieuse dans les conflits est quant à elle sur le devant de la scène. Les cas du Liban, de l’Irlande du Nord ou de l’Ex-Yougoslavie, des cas classiques, illustrent parfaitement cette dimension dans l’exacerbation d’un conflit. Toutefois, ce mémoire tend à expliciter un phénomène particulier ; celui de l’Albanie. Située dans la région des Balkans, un véritable carrefour des religions d’une part et considéré comme un pays multiconfessionnel d’autre part, elle n’a jamais connu de conflit à caractère religieux. Qu’est-ce qui explique que cet État, composé de musulmans, de chrétiens orthodoxes et de catholiques, n’a jamais vu un conflit religieux émerger tandis que ce mulitconfessionnalisme est facteur de conflit chez d’autres ? Nous verrons que l’hypothèse sur laquelle nous nous appuierons est l’absence d’entrepreneurs politique. L’Albanie post-communiste a maintenu la religion séparée du monde politique tout comme ce dernier a évité la prise de parti pris en véhiculant un message de tolérance religieuse.

Hybridity, communism and the avant-garde: Irena Blühová and Tina Modotti

This investigation compares the work of Irena Blühová and Tina Modotti between 1924 and 1936 based on ideas of cultural hybridity, photographic theory and social and Marxist art history. Centred on the premise that they worked in similar socio- political environments, shared common biographical points and were some of the first modernist women photographers in their region, a number of aspects relating to their work are examined in relation to their socio-political background. Selected works by Blühová and Modotti are analysed and compared, making apparent that, whilst they start photographing with different ulterior motives, thematically their work is moving into a similar direction from around 1926. Partly, this is due to their involvement with the communist party and the links between politics and photography on an international scale; partly to the fact that they share a concern for the culture of the countries they worked in. These concerns are expanded upon by the fact that both Blühová and Modotti intermediate between the national and the international, the aesthetic, social and the political within their local contexts, which forms distinct similarities in their work.

Entrepreneurship: a long way to go

Entrepreneurship education has emerged as one popular research domain in academic fields given its aim at enhancing and developing certain entrepreneurial qualities of undergraduates that change their state of behavior, even their entrepreneurial inclination and finally may result in the formation of new businesses as well as new job opportunities. This study attempts to investigate the Colombian student´s entrepreneurial qualities and the influence of entrepreneurial education during their studies.

La actualización del modelo socialista y sus efectos en el Partido Comunista Cubano

El VI Congreso del Partido Comunista de Cuba introdujo una nueva agenda económica que el Gobierno llama la actualización del modelo socialista. Muchos piensan que en esencia se trata de una serie de reformas y reducen su importancia a su dimensión económica. Esta monografía busca explicar la actualización aplicando el análisis de sistemas-mundo de Immanuel Wallerstein, aportando una interpretación no convencional del fenómeno. Se puntualizará en las variables de poder y en los actores políticos que han determinado la nueva política económica: el Partido Comunista de Cuba (PCC) y las Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias (FAR). Ambos conforman lo que Wallerstein denomina un movimiento antisitémico. El argumento principal es que el movimiento ha puesto en marcha las reformas buscando fortalecer el Estado y así garantizar su supervivencia al consolidar su posición como el competidor único del poder estatal. Como se verá, estas metas han llevado al movimiento a sacrificar parte de su naturaleza antisistémica.

¿Cambiar para seguir igual? la experiencia de la oposición política rusa: del legado de la Perestroika a la democracia soberana

El colapso de la Unión Soviética a inicios de los años noventa del siglo pasado, constituyó para Rusia un punto de partida para su reconfiguración y reestructuración como un país independiente. En este proceso de reconfiguración y reestructuración Rusia ha adoptado diferentes elementos de la cultura política occidental; situación que resulta de gran interés, toda vez que en los años de la Guerra Fría la Rusia comunista encarnaba la antítesis de Occidente a nivel ideológico, político y económico. Esta investigación pretende estudiar la oposición política en Rusia entre los años 2004 y 2012, y, con ello, presentar algunos elementos clave en la comprensión de las acciones, relaciones e influencia de los diferentes actores del nuevo sistema político de esta potencia mundial.

Do comunismo à União Europeia: 20 anos que mudaram a história política e económica da Bulgária: Uma abordagem pela teoria e prática da condicionalidade

O mecanismo da condicionalidade pode ser considerado como um dos sucessos da UE na avaliação da forma como este afectou os processos de transição nos países pós-comunistas, em particular no caso dos países envolvidos no Quinto Alargamento. Este trabalho avalia a importância do mecanismo da condicionalidade na região da Europa de Leste, buscando analisar as políticas da UE em relação à Bulgária no período de 20 anos de difícil transição de um sistema comunista planificado para uma economia de mercado. Avaliamos também as políticas europeias de pré-adesão e as condições de adesão. Além disso, prestamos ainda atenção ao fenómeno do mecanismo da condicionalidade específico da UE, como tal, comparamos o seu impacto com os mecanismos do FMI e do Banco Mundial. Concluímos com a tentativa de fornecer alguns elementos sobre a utilidade prática do mecanismo de condicionalidade no Sudeste da Europa, definindo as suas principais realizações, bem como os problemas enfrentados. Através de uma revisão da literatura disponível, e adoptando uma perspectiva histórica, procuramos avaliar também as novas responsabilidades que a Bulgária assumiu ao alargar a fronteira exterior da UE e as consequências que daí decorreram para as relações políticas e económicas com os países vizinhos. /ABSTRACT: The conditionality mechanism can be considered one of the successes of the EU when estimated its influence over the transition process in the post-communist countries, especially for the countries involved in the Fifth Enlargement. This study evaluates the significance of the mechanism of conditionality in the region of Eastern Europe, analyzing the policies of the EU for Bulgaria during the 20 years of difficult transition from a planned communist system to a market economy. The European policies of pre-accession and the accession conditions are evaluated. Also, it pays attention to the phenomenon of the conditionality mechanism specific for EU, comparing its impact with the mechanisms of the IMF and World Bank. And concludes with an attempt to provide some elements about how useful has been the conditionality mechanism in South East Europe, defining the main achievements and difficulties that it faces. Having a look at the available literature and also reviewing it from historical point of view, it's evaluated the new responsibilities that Bulgaria assumed after extending the external frontiers of EU and the consequences for the political and economic relations with neighbor countries.

Políticas de la memoria: El levantamiento de 1932 en El Salvador

ResumenEste artículo analiza la cambiante memoria histórica del levantamiento comunista ocurrido en El Salvador en 1932. Las diferencias que se observan al comparar recuentos contemporáneos de los eventos y fuentes periodísticas de diferentes épocas, muestran el carácter maleable de las narrativas construidas para describir y explicar el levantamiento. El artículo muestra la relación entre variaciones en las narrativas y cambios en la situación sociopolítica de El Salvador.AbstractThis article analyzes the ever-changing historic memory of the Communist uprising in El Salvador that took place in 1932. The dissimilarities observed when comparing the contemporary narration of events with the newspaper sources at different points in time, clearly evidence the malleable nature of the accounts created to describe and explain the revolt. This article highlights the existing connection between the variations in the narratives and the changes in the socio-political situation of El Salvador.

"Nos llaman ladrones y se roban nuestro salario": Hacia una reinterpretación de la movilización rural salvadoreña, 1929-1931.

ResumenEste artículo examina los orígenes sociales de los movimientos que desencadenaron la revuelta campesina de 1932 en el centro-occidente de El Salvador. Utiliza fuentes orales y documentales nuevas, para trazar la forma en que el reformismo, la crisis económica y el activismo de los militantes comunistas lograron romper las barreras étnicas y regionales que dividían al campesinado occidental y estimular una movilización masiva.AbstractThis article delves into the social origins of the movements that triggered the 1932 peasant revolt in the central-western region of El Salvador. The authors used new oral and documentary sources to outline the way in which reformism, the economic crisis, and the communist activism managed to break the ethnic and regional barriers that divided the western peasantry and fostered a massive mobilization.