Macedonia: a superficial democracy in the shadow of crises. OSW COMMENTARY NUMBER 206/31.03.2016

Until 2008, Macedonia was leading the process of EU and NATO integration, and (after Croatia) was the fastest-reforming Western Balkan country. However, since Macedonia’s negotiations on joining the EU and NATO were blocked, in connection with its dispute with Greece, the Macedonian government has moved away from a policy of reform towards reinforcing its autocratic system and consolidating society behind nationalist slogans. Also the EU, which had hitherto been the driving force behind the changes, has due to its internal crises been paying little attention to violations of democratic standards in the Republic of Macedonia, tensions in relations between the Slavic Macedonians and the Albanian minority (which make up over 25% of the population), and the country’s permanent political domestic crises.

Consequences of twenty-first-century policy for multi-millennial climate and sea-level change

Most of the policy debate surrounding the actions needed to mitigate and adapt to anthropogenic climate change has been framed by observations of the past 150 years as well as climate and sea-level projections for the twenty-first century. The focus on this 250-year window, however, obscures some of the most profound problems associated with climate change. Here, we argue that the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, a period during which the overwhelming majority of human-caused carbon emissions are likely to occur, need to be placed into a long-term context that includes the past 20 millennia, when the last Ice Age ended and human civilization developed, and the next ten millennia, over which time the projected impacts of anthropogenic climate change will grow and persist. This long-term perspective illustrates that policy decisions made in the next few years to decades will have profound impacts on global climate, ecosystems and human societies — not just for this century, but for the next ten millennia and beyond.

Poétique de la ville postmoderne : Montréal dans La canicule des pauvres de Jean-Simon DesRochers

La canicule des pauvres (2009) raconte dans le détail la vie quotidienne de vingt-six personnages habitant Le Galant, une ancienne maison de passe transformée en un immeuble locatif situé à Montréal, au cœur du Quartier latin. Cette étude prend acte du fait que ce roman choral dresse un portrait particulier et complexe de la ville. Les questions qu’elle se pose sont de cet ordre : qu’est-ce que cette représentation de Montréal nous apprend de la société québécoise actuelle ? que devient la civilisation urbaine — l’urbanité, au sens ancien du terme — dans le monde de La canicule des pauvres ? comment l’écriture de DesRochers travaille-t-elle les représentations habituelles de la ville, que celles-ci proviennent de l’imaginaire social contemporain ou de la littérature passée ? existe-t-il telle chose qu’une postmodernité montréalaise ? S’inspirant des principes de la sociocritique des textes, la lecture proposée postule que c’est dans la forme même du texte que peut se comprendre le complexe de sens lié à la représentation de Montréal élaborée par le roman. Par les images qu’il en donne, par les modes d’énonciation et de narration, par la façon d’unir l’efficacité des brefs chapitres et l’ampleur de la vision romanesque, par les multiples récits de vie décrits et leurs entrecroisements, le roman donne à lire une ville devenue par bien des côtés étrangère et opaque à ses propres habitants. L’étude comprend quatre parties qui examinent respectivement les principaux traits de la mise en texte, la fragmentation du récit, le motif récurrent du smog et la façon de présenter les relations interindividuelles. Au bout du chemin, la ville apparaît paradoxale, vivante certes, mais sans proposer une manière cohérente et émancipatrice du vivre ensemble.

Rodolfo Kusch y la constitución de lo popular en la Argentina

De la vasta obra del filósofo argentino Rodolfo Kusch (1922-1979), quién desarrollara diversas líneas de reflexión-investigación, abordaremos sus tesis sobre la constitución de lo popular en la Argentina. Para ello nos detendremos en dos momentos: por un lado, desarrollaremos su peculiar lectura sobre el ciclo político de la independencia y sobre el período de la organización nacional-estatal argentina, centrándonos en su debate con el clásico binomio sarmientino "civilización o barbarie" y subrayando el parentesco de ciertos conceptos de nuestro autor con aportes más recientes del paradigma de la modernidad / colonialidad. En una segunda instancia, nos referiremos a la persistencia de lo indígena en la constitución de lo popular en nuestro país, en diálogo con otras posiciones del pensamiento nacional y latinoamericano, y derivaremos de allí ciertas conclusiones para la investigación en ciencias sociales.

Quema de libros y antitotalitarismo : Manuel Rivas Los libros arden mal y Ray Bradbury Fahrenheit 451

El presente artículo se propone comparar dos novelas cuyo común denominador es el compromiso antitotalitario con motivo de la quema de libros considerada como el culmen de la barbarie anticultural, a saber Los libros arden mal (2006) de Manuel Rivas y Fahrenheit 451 (1953) de Ray Bradbury. Partiendo de las reflexiones de Fernando Rodríguez de la Flor en torno al biblioclasmo (2004), el paralelo se centra en los siguientes aspectos: la descripción zoo- y antropomorfizada de los libros en llamas; el biblioclasmo como expresión del totalitarismo, denotando asimismo una relación ambivalente y dialéctica entre cultura y barbarie; los movimientos subversivos dedicados a mantener el culto al libro y la tradición filosófico-literaria; la intertextualidad y el papel destacado de la Biblia en cuanto Libro de los libros. En conclusión se podrá constatar que, a pesar de numerosos puntos en común, en particular su compromiso antitotalitario, ambos autores se distinguen en concreto por su orientación política y el enfoque de su crítica cultural.

Palynological and stratigraphic record from Löddigsee in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany

A Late Pleistocene and Holocene sediment core from the nowadays terrestrialised portion of the Löddigsee in Southern Mecklenburg, Germany was palynologically investigated. The lake is situated in the rarely investigated Young moraine area at the transition from the Weichselian to the Saalian glaciation. The high-resolution pollen diagram contributes to the establishment of the north-eastern German Late Pleistocene pollen stratigraphy. The vegetation distribution pattern after the end of the Weichselian is in good agreement with other studies from North-eastern Germany, but also has its own characteristics. The Holocene vegetation development reveals features from the north-eastern and north-western German lowlands. A special focus was laid on the environmental history of the two settlements on an island within the lake (Late Neolithic and Younger Slavic period), which were preserved under moist conditions. Both settlements were constructed during a period of low lake level. Although there is evidence of agriculture in the area during the respective periods, the two island settlements seem to have served other purposes.

Los elementos de la civilización cristiana; caractéres de la edad media,

No. [4] in a volume lettered: C. Báez. Eserites. 1903.

The nations from a new point of view /

Mode of access: Internet.

Beacon lights of history /

Includes index.

Rumania, a bibliographic guide /

Xeroxed.

Primitive culture: researches into the development of mythology, philosophy, religion, art, and custom,

Mode of access: Internet.

Man on a rock,

Bibliographical references included in "Notes" (p. [177]-188)

Culture & ethnology,

First published 1917. "Reprinted March, 1929 by permission of Horace Liveright."

A documentary history of primitivism and related ideas;

"The record...of civilized man's misgivings about his performances."-v.l, p. ix.

Ancient oriental cyclinder and other seals with a description of the collection of Mrs. William H. Moore,

Mode of access: Internet.