International Journal of Contemporary Economics and Administrative Sciences
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Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia: The democratic hurdle of responsibility in a multi-ethnic society
Get PDFThe events of 1989 rewrote a term that was hidden for decades on the European political agenda: self-determination. Firstly as a need for the re-unification of the German States, then as a tool for boosting national emancipation movements. Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia, two countries with multinational systems, witnessed the arrival of democracy as the result of their common project and territory: new foreigners, different borders. Both States were born at the end of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, had significant national minorities and faced a socialist experiment. But the regime change was diametrically different. Far from providing an explanation of the Yugoslav break up or the Velvet divorce, the comparative study analyzes similarities/differences in the élites addressing people/voters during the critical moment of regime change in 1989-1990. To what extent did the presence of an external dominator (Moscow) help the Czechoslovaks in behaving differently from the Yugoslavs? And on the other hand, how much did the absence of a greater enemy lead Yugoslavia to find guiltiness/innocence within its own people? The paper therefore focuses on the study of the presence/absence of “enemies” and their localization inside/outside the country, as two dichotomous variables that could have affected the political act of establishing new borders
On conceptual historical analysis of borders in political language – Some remarks on Karelia
Get PDFBorder has become a multiple political concept in the post-Cold War period than it has been before. Political processes like the European integration, globalization and increased networking of trade, business and people have challenged traditional thinking of state borders. At the same time the borders have been re-securitized and used for othering and defining national identities. The Ukrainian Crisis has returned geopolitical vocabulary to the every-day debates and the refugee crisis challenges core principles of the EU and Schengen region. This paper introduces a theoretical framework based on conceptual history that can be applied on studying how borders have been defined and used in the political language. Through conceptual history, a relation between academic, political and public discourses of borders can be traced and identified. This can help to understand multiplicity of state borders and especially how, and why they are powerful tools for driving certain political agendas. The paper contributes to theoretical discussion on how to understand borders and bordering in contemporary political language. Also the paper notes that ‘border’ itself has been less studied in comparison to other key concepts of the post-Cold War politics. 
The roles of borders in two Polish films: In Heaven as it is on Earth (1996) and Yuma (2012)
Get PDFThe aim of this paper is to analyse the images of the border in two Polish movies: Yuma (2012) and In Heaven as it is on Earth (1996). Although they belong to different genres, the border is a major theme in both films. This essay refers to the three points of interest concerning border movie analysis suggested by Dodds (2013), namely: the materiality of borders; different aspects of border crossings; and governance issues. His approach is combined with Lotman’s (1990) “boundary of a semiosphere”. The literature concerning American border cinema is also considered. It may be argued that both movies represent the understanding of borders in the current border studies agenda (Scott 2011). This means that they are shown as incoherent and mutually conflicting constructs
The Challenge of Femicide and Violence Against Women in Turkey
Get PDFViolence against women in Turkey is a tangible manifestation of the way that Turkish men have used force to exercise dominance over Turkish women. It is considered by many in society as natural, cultural and possibly unchanging. Violence is, inarguably, a critical social challenge throughout Turkey and has not improved, even as the world is addressing it more and more. Violence against women is a crime against human rights, which this study attempts to address. The aim of this paper is to discover the reasons for femicide and violence and to determine whether a change in the legal system can ultimately resolve the problem. Indeed, in present-day Turkey it is very difficult to verify the precise levels of violence against women. The paper concludes that unless there is a fundamental change in attitudes towards women, especially on the part of men, violence against women and femicide will continue to be major challenges and will remain to be properly addressed by lawmakers. Furthermore, because attitudes towards women are not good in Turkey, official statistics regarding violence against women are unreliable, making it that much more difficult to implement targeted, effective measures to address violence against women and femicide. 
Report on the 1st Berlin Border Seminar 2014
Get PDFThe article is a report on the sessions, papers and activities during the 1st Berlin Border Seminar, which was organised during the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Chosen papers from the seminar are now published in the two special issues of the International Journal of Contemporary Economics and Administrative Sciences
Fiscal decentralization in the public sector of Lithuania: possibilities of development
Get PDFThe article deals with the possibilities to develop fiscal decentralization and the important part - the local tax authority in Lithuania. General principles of tax distribution on the state and local government levels are discussed. The situation in the sphere of the fiscal decentralization in Lithuania and the budget’s structure of Lithuanian municipalities from the point of view of fiscal decentralization is analyzed. The analysis showed, that non-tax income, which can be mostly influenced by local governments, comprises, but an insignificant share of all local governments income and its significance is not great. The local taxes do not play an important role in municipal budgets too, because these taxes comprise but a small share of municipal budgets. The volume of state subsidies for budgets of local authorities comprises more than a half of their total revenues. This fact testifies rather a low level of fiscal decentralization in the country. Similar situation is in the level of individual municipalities. The comparative analysis budget structures of the Vilnius and other capitals of Baltic countries showed that situation in Vilnius, Tallinn, Riga municipalities is similar and characterizes by low degree of financial independence of municipalities
The political context of intra-southern African migration: reflections on post-war Mozambique and post-apartheid South Africa
Get PDFFollowing the ends of both the war in Mozambique in 1992 and apartheid in South Africa in 1994, migration within the southern African region has gained new shapes as well as new border control responses. This paper analyses border control arrangements that have been put in place to address the escalation in migration across the Mozambique-South Africa border. It is based on in-depth interviews with border police patrollers, immigration officials and customs officers in Mozambique, together with analysis of annual reports from these border divisions. Findings indicate that Mozambique and South Africa have unilaterally prioritized anti-criminal aspects of border control and migration management, and have not prioritized integration of immigrants. Thus, it appears that Mozambique and South Africa have been failing to explore potential advantages anchored in intra-southern African migration, even though these could embody an alternative method for addressing migration, human mobility and border control in the Southern Africa region
OVERVIEW OF VOLUNTOURISM IN TURKEY: DEFINING THE EXPERIENCE OF VOLUNTEERS AND THEIR MOTIVATION
No full textTravelling is an incredible experience of itself. At the same time, travel with a purpose can be even more meaningful. Volunteering Tourism or Voluntourism is one of the ways to travel around the world. Volunteer tourism is a new type of alternative tourism and especially based on a volunteer service. The purpose of this paper is to examine the current state of volunteer tourism in Turkey and a specific form of tourism that is closely related to a range of conception of volunteer tourism in Turkey. With the growth in volunteer tourism, the importance of understanding the factors/ motivations that drive volunteers cannot be overemphasized. This study is also examined motivation of volunteers and their experiences. To quantify this phenomenon, semi-structured interview was used in this study which covered qualitative data collection techniques. The questions received from past studies and developed by researcher and created after the expert opinion. As conclusions of this paper, Izmir’s voluntary tourist profile and demographic structure of these tourists was examined. The paper also included the reasons and the motivations of tourist to visit Turkey
Tales from the Periphery – How the EU Border facilitates Cohesion in peripheral Regions
Get PDFOvercoming the periphery disadvantages is currently the official spatial policy of the European Union. The concepts of a cohesive community and a Europe of the regions are political priorities. However, the success of regional development depends primary on local practices. This is specifically relevant in border regions, which generally had been contested in the past, leaving a landscape of historical scarves, conflicts and fault-lines. In order to understand if border regions use the demarcation as a resource, it is important to understand how local strategies are implemented, discussed and modified in order to achieve a sustainable development.The paper will provide a short overview on indicators for periphery, it will present local strategies toward the border in the Polish border town Przemyśl and discuss if the development of a peripheral region can be positive influenced, when the border is understood as a regional resource. The paper is based on fieldworkers to the region in 2007 and 2014, during which in-depth expert interviews with local stakeholders had been carried out. The results had been further verified with a complimentary analysis of relevant literature, media and local planning documents