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Since the beginning of the 1990s we can observe an increasing number of festivities in the Czech Republic which are constructed after a historical shape of the rural carnival. They reveal the needs and intentions of contemporary urban society that manipulates with elements of the carnival in the context of contemporary activities. We focus on the way the structural units of the festivity are selected and appropriated by people within the construction of its contemporary form. The ethnomusicological and ethnochoreological approach enables us to reflect the cognitive process of the participants that makes visible their personal as well as collective experience of the festivity and gives us information about social relationships, culture and collective memory produced together with imaginaries of the time. The qualitative fi eld research took place in several districts of Prague and its suburbs based on relationships between place and interests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Czech Journal of International Relations / Mezinárodní Vztahy is the property of Ustav Mezinarodnich Vztahu, v. v. i. (Institute of International Relations) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The study presents a general overview of the mutual relations between the European Union and religious organizations. It starts from the paradox of the absence of religion in the first decades of the evolution of the European Communities and the rapid increase of the political interaction between the EU and religious organizations in recent years. The text is divided into three parts: the first introduces the state of the art in the study of religion and European integration; the second describes the phases of the relations between the EC/EU and religious organizations, particularly Christian churches; and the third, concluding part summarizes the most important arguments used to explain the EU's surprising shift from its indifference towards religion to its pronounced interest therein. In the end, the text also elaborates on the main developmental features. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Physical Culture / Tělesná Kultura is the property of Palacky University in Olomouc and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This study deals with the growing interest in religion as an object of IR studies. It investigates two fundamental questions: The first asks after the reasons for which religion was excluded from IR studies for most of the twentieth century. The second analyzes the conditions that allowed the "return" of religion as an important factor of world politics, both on the level of political practice and on the level of its theoretical reflexion. Each of these questions is answered in three steps. The first three discuss (1) the conditions under which the interwar study of IR was born; (2) the ongoing marginalization of religion as a subject of study in the 1950s and 1960s; and finally (3) the influence of other disciplines on international relations and, in particular, the impact of the secularization theory. The next parts explore the contrary development, i.e. the gradual return of religion to IR studies which was made possible by two factors - (4) the renewed interest in culture in IR ("the cultural turn") and (5) the increasing relevance of social constructivism. The last section points to (6) the most important topics of the current research of religion in international relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Czech Journal of International Relations / Mezinárodní Vztahy is the property of Ustav Mezinarodnich Vztahu, v. v. i. (Institute of International Relations) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The paper deals with the changes of perception of the world, with its concentric perceiving in Greek and pre-Greek civilization cultures, in their literary and philosophic works as well as in the material relics, symbolism of its description and its presentation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Physical Culture / Tělesná Kultura is the property of Palacky University in Olomouc and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Although today national interest is a concept often deemed too old-fashioned for any relevant study of foreign policy or international relations, it is surprising how deeply embedded it is in practical political discourse. The aim of this article is therefore to recast the concept so as to make it a useful theoretical instrument again, hence renewing the conceptual link between the academic and practical discourses on the subject. The argument is divided into five steps: First, we will explain the realist account of national interest and its two major features - essentialism and its non-normative nature. Second, we will dedicate some attention to the critics of the realist approach. Third, we will try to demonstrate that both sides of this debate have committed a fundamental error in considering national interest as a descriptive category. By pointing to the concept's historical evolution, we will show that national interest should be primarily understood as a normative concept. In the last two steps, we will couple the debate on interest to discussions in theories of democracy and set three criteria which must be met for interest to be considered legitimate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]