Search

As this introductory study argues, state socialist experts dispatched for Africa during the Cold War were an important current in global transfers of knowledge. The paper introduces the scholarship on socialist experts and their relations to international organizations, modernization theory and the concept of development. Furthermore, it also delves into the personal experience of the experts in the place of their positioning and how they affected and were affected by the environment they were sent to. The paper thus summarizes the state of art and explores the possibilities of where the research might go from here.

The British Expedition to Tibet of 1903–1904 represented the last major military operation of the Great Game, the broad cultural confrontation between the British and the Russians that contested the geopolitical space of central and high Asia for almost the entire nineteenth century, up until the St. Petersburg entente of 1907. The role assumed by the then Tongsa Penlop, Ugyen Wangchuck, as a mediator between the British and Tibetans during the Expedition, was critical. Among the Bhutanese nobles, Ugyen Wangchuck had emerged victorious from the Battle of Changlimithang in 1885 and in 1907 he was crowned as the first king of Bhutan. In the period between the military victory and his accession to the throne, the power of Ugyen Wangchuck had to be consolidated definitively in a country that was simultaneously involved in the geopolitical space of the Raj, to which it was linked by the Treaty of Sinchula of 1865, and in the cultural sphere of Tibet, its most profound and ancient spiritual heritage. This paper reconstructs through British archival documents an attempt carried out by the Bhutanese with the British — in anticipation of Anglo-Tibetan negotiations — to try to resolve the last internal tensions of Bhutan. Although strongly downsized, some ancient rivalries, like underground rivers, continued to run across the balances of power and the international role of the small Himalayan country at the beginning of the twentieth century

The Croatian magazine Start, “a misbehaved child of the sexual revolution of the sixties”2 was created in 1969. Its visual identity has been marked by nude women throughout its existence. The magazine’s editorial board sometimes presented it as ideological opposition to socialist puritanism, especially exemplified in so-called ‘our girl’ ideology and, therefore, as contributed to women’s emancipation. In order to explore how (some) Yugoslav men reacted to and repackaged the socialist gender agendas, this paper will examine the magazine’s contents through a gendered lens. It will particularly focus on their approach to the imagery of the People’s Liberation Struggle. It will examine a number of articles dealing with the Yugoslav theatre of the Second World War and women’s participation in it. By taking into account textual contributions as well as their visual representations, this paper will study how Western influences participated in the portrayal of the women’s emancipation project, as well as the Yugoslav gender order, during the 1970s. It will highlight how it validated the journalists’ adherence to tradition-bound gender hierarchies, which they mapped onto their supposedly liberal discourse of sexual liberation.

Due to its character of totalitarian regime and through the major changes imposed in the society, the communist regime in Romania between 1945 and 1989 represents a distinct period in the history of the country. A series of inflicted macrosocial processes, such as the strictly centralized economy, collectivization and nationalization, as well as some phenomena such as the control of citizens’ lives, the impossibility of free expression, censorship of the press and culture, the lack of consumer goods, restrictions on utilities, and so on, negatively marked the fate of many Romanians during this period. However, many people remember this period with nostalgia. The present paper deals with the popular culture in Romania during the communist period (1945–1989), as seen, considered, and remembered by people who lived in that era, or at least in a period of it. The research was based on the method of life histories and focussed on the viewings of the subjects regarding the practices, rituals, artefacts, and products of popular culture in the communist time. Both folk culture and mass culture are discussed and analysed, as well as the elements of lifestyle, as described by the subjects. Moreover, the influences on the popular culture in that period are outlined, such as those of some large-scale phenomena like industrialisation and urbanisation, Western trends, Soviet propaganda, or the different impositions of the Romanian authorities, according to the various stages the communist regime has been going through in this period. The gathered data show that, while many memories of people are sorrowful and bitter, other recalls and considerations regarding the cultural practices of that time, and especially the human relations built by the means of these practices, are full of nostalgia. These aspects concerning popular culture in a particular historical period and nostalgia related to it are discussed in detail in the paper.

The paper analyses the scientific discourse that informed the Czechoslovak conceptions of development studies as well as the practice of development aid. On the example of scholarly outputs of two distinguished economists working at the Institute of International Politics and Economy — Blanka Šrucová and Jan Vraný — it explores the impact and process of adaptation of recent methodological influences from abroad onto the Czechoslovak development expertise. It situates the shifts in attitude towards the developmental assistance within the broader framework of Czechoslovak (economic) reform project as well as the global debates on the effectiveness of development strategies. The article claims that Czechoslovak economists used their transnational experience gained during missions abroad not only to “domesticate” recent trends in research and suggest more effective methods of Czechoslovak developmental assistance exported to the “Third World” but also to improve the conditions of national economy

The paper analyses the position of the British institutions, of the embassy in Peking and of the consulate general in Kashgar, before the attempt of the Afghan ruler Amānallāh to establish diplomatic relations with the Chinese Republic in 1920. Amānallāh, who ascended the throne of the emirate in 1919, rejected the British protectorate over Afghanistan and his victory in the Third Anglo-Afghan War certified the country’s full independence. The provisional nature of the 1919 Treaty of Rawalpindi, followed by the Anglo-Afghan Treaty of 1921, left many doubts still open about the international status of Afghanistan. Moreover, the proximity between Afghanistan and the Russian Bolsheviks introduced a further ideological element of difficulty in the geopolitical picture of Central Asia after the First World War. Central to the diplomatic dialectic was also the status of Afghan subjects in China, particularly in Hsin-chiang, and to whom their possible consular protection should be entrusted. The last part of the paper is dedicated precisely to the analysis of a specific case, the arrest of a man considered an Afghan by the Chinese, but subject of the princely state of Chitral according to the British. The case helped to better define the boundaries of the matter. The paper is essentially based on British archival sources.

This paper seeks to elucidate the status of the Koryo Saram in Kazakhstan in relation to South Korean diplomacy. After a historical overview of the Koryo Saram in Kazakhstan, the authors analyze the cultural and geopolitical role of the Koryo Saram in Kazakhstan-South Korea relations. The authors review existing literature and provide their insights from an outside perspective written firstly in English. The authors conclude that the Koryo Saram are in a precarious position as a diaspora, and risk losing their unique heritage barring intentional protection efforts on the part of the states of Kazakhstan and South Korea. The authors draw a distinction between protection and preservation efforts, favoring the former for its promotion of authenticity in cultural revival and agency for the diasporic group. This paper is the first to provide prescriptive policy analysis of diaspora diplomacy and the Koryo Saram, building off of economical, legal, and anthropological historiography. Key words: Koryo Saram, diaspora diplomacy, soviet koreans.

The participatory reforms, which were introduced within the World Bank in the context of the global protests of the 1990s, have frequently been analysed and criticized as co-optation. This paper formulates a critique of the concept of co-optation from a postcolonial-feminist perspective. First, in light of the rising hegemonic inclusion of the “New Subaltern” (Spivak 2000), the analytical limitations of the concept of co-optation are illustrated using the empirical example of the participatory World Bank study “Voices of the Poor”. Second, building upon recent feminist and postcolonial contributions, the deep epistemological problems of the concept of co-optation are discussed. Finally, the paper outlines an alternative conceptualisation for critically analysing global participatory reforms: the global politics of subaltern representation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chester Alan Arthur was the twentieth-first president of the United States. His presidency, from 1881–1885, was unplanned and monumental, yet he is an often overlooked figure of history. When he is remembered, it is for domestic reform. Here his part on the international stage, through the events of the International Prime Meridian Conference in 1884 in Washington DC, an early success for international relations, and his part in the Berlin West Africa Conference of 1884–1885, through recognizing the Congo flag, are explored. How his character influenced his role, how it contrasted with Belgian King Leopold II, and Arthur’s place in civil rights history is also examined, as well as the developing imperialism and Anglo-American order of the world.

National commemorations are historical events, too. While re-imagining the past to correspond with contemporary sentiments, they are themselves open to reinterpretation by future observers. The 50th anniversary of the 1916 Easter Rising was intended to be a liminal event, paying tribute to the veterans of the revolutionary generation while recalibrating the national narrative to be more conciliatory and less militaristic. Yet, the anniversary later became neglected as one of the sparks of the conflict in Northern Ireland and subsequently served as the grand negative example of what needs to be avoided during the preparations for the Easter Rising centenary in 2016. The organisers of this centenary eventually introduced a highly diverse programme that held inclusivity at its centre. Nonetheless, with Brexit or Covid-19 in mind, one might wonder what the afterlife of the centennial mosaic of narratives will look like. Will the popular success of the event last, or will it be overshadowed or even neglected in the future?

The present article primarily deals with the personality of Sophia of Hanover and her claims to the succession to the English throne. Sophia and her descendants (specifically George I) were appointed by the Act of Settlement as heirs to the throne upon the death of Anne Stuart. The life of Sophia, as well as her relations with the English monarchs and the Stuart family as such, will be outlined through the memoirs not only of Sophia herself but also of her family members, as well as through the correspondence of Sophie herself, including the English monarchs of the period under review.

Newly created institutions: the Japanese government and Diet brought Japan closer to the advanced modern countries, which was the goal of all the reforms the new government sought. This complex and difficult process has had positive results and has met the expectations of its creators. Among other things, the reformers succeeded in involving the entire population in the process of modernising the country. The purpose of the creation of the House of Peers was to involve the entire nobility, both court and military, in participation in governance. In addition, the reforms of the noble titles also brought together the court aristocracy and the military nobility. In addition, representatives of the former lower nobility were elevated to the level of the formerly high-ranking nobility as a reward for their contribution to establishing the new political order. The creation of modern governmental institutions was necessary above all to strengthen Japan’s international position. The newly established Diet, although its powers were limited, was also of great significance in that it involved all sections of society in participating in the modernisation of the country, thus achieving in a relatively short period almost equal status with Western countries

The subjects of this paper are place names as immaterial sites of commemoration. In a linguistic perspective, the paper analyses how exonyms and endonyms are semantically up-loaded respectively re-loaded in use. Proceeding on the assumption that proper names have no “meaning” in the traditional sense, it is argued that, beyond their denotative semantics (pure reference to the place), they may be enriched with connotative semantics (encyclopedic knowledge, first; ideological belief, second) and with illocutional semantics (what is intended, or not, by using them). Historically burdened place-names turn out to be extremely susceptible to semantic re-motivation and pragmatic re-contextualization.

This paper discusses the tourism in places in connection with “class struggle” during the era of state socialism in Czechoslovakia. During the time of economic crisis in the 1930s, there were some incidents between gendarmerie and striking workers in the areas of high unemployment. These events were misused in the propaganda as legitimization of the Communist Party’s leading role after the 1948 revolution. These places of “class struggle” were privileged in hierarchy of heritage preservation during the communist era (1948–1989). The author focuses on sources connected with tourism (guidebooks, maps) and raises the question if historical agents and society adopted these places. The methodological remarks are an important part of the paper.

This paper shows and analyses the issue of the relations between Nepal and the Ch’ing Empire from the British point of view during the last months of the Manchu authority in China. Nepal, a buffer state between India and Tibet, represented for the British an important and decisive ally in South Asia. The first part of the work will be dedicated to an analysis of the political and geopolitical status of Nepal compared to Britain and China of the Ch’ing Dynasty. The second part, which further develops the first, enters into the specifics of a tribute that the Himalayan country should have offered the Emperor P’u-i. The Hsin-hai Revolution of 1911 put an end to imperial power in China and would lead to the establishment of the republic and would resolve issues and misunderstandings between the countries. The paper pays particular attention to the correspondence between the then Nepalese Prime Minister, Chandra Shum Shere, and the British Resident in Nepal, John Manners Smith. The research takes as a benchmark the wider scenario of the period immediately following the end of the Great Game and the decline of the Manchu power. The guideline and key to interpretation of the documents reflects the perspective of the geopolitical and strategic interests of the British Empire in Asia.

Generally, the Amalgamation of 1914 brought together the protectorates of Northern and Southern Nigeria, thus forming one country — Nigeria. However, the ordinances of the colonial government did not reflect that as it denied the people access to the land and mineral resources, vesting both in the Crown. This has in turn impacted on the Socio-economic development of the Nigeria area even years after independence. This is because the ordinances under the new gab of Land and Mineral Acts, have offered the neo-colonial actors and their allies the opportunity to continue to corner for themselves large spans of land and oil blocs. This in the opinion of the paper is largely responsible for mass landlessness, low economic activities/productivity among the people (especially among professionals whose means of livelihood are tied to land), boundary disputes as well as occupational conflicts in parts of the country. The paper using qualitative analysis, seeks to interrogate the relationship between the Amalgamation, Land/Mineral Ordinances and the implications of these on socio-economic developments in the area.

In this paper, the author links the 1862 Kanlica Conference with the demographic changes in Northeast Bosnia that occurred during the 1860s. The author claims that there was a direct link between these two, or in other words, that the Kanlica Conference was a major factor that contributed to changing the demographics — more precisely, switching the majority between the Christians and Muslims in favor of the latter. It’s important to note it here that the Conference itself wasn’t the only reason for the changes, but the factor which, intentionally or not, caused them.

In the 1980s in Poland, many young people dreamed of having western clothes. They were considered the most fashionable, created/signified the social position and allowed teenagers to “feel cool”. On the basis of the ethnographic research, the paper presents the sources of inspiration for the clothing choices and the deeper meaning of fashion in those times. Thus, this text is not only a description of teenage clothing choices, but most of all, it is a story of resistance and cultural changes among teens which led to the collapse of socialistic culture. By referring to postcolonial theories, it is shown how international influences impacted everyday decisions and how they enabled the success of consumerism in Poland.

In summer 2015 for the first time in its history the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea welcomed a western rock band, making an unexpected gesture of inviting the Slovene art group Laibach. Laibach’s credentials for this type of cultural diplomacy may be best observed in the sociopolitical context of the 1980s, when they operated within a broader alternative cultural scene of civil society movements in Slovenia (then socialist Yugoslavia). Laibach have since uniquely employed different media and approaches to inspect relations between art, politics, processes of nation-building and popular culture. In the Western media they are mainly presented as a highly controversial music group originating from the former communist East and disturbing the audiences with their totalitarian imagery and ambiguous political messages. Across the globe they were seen as going to North Korea to entertain a brainwashed and utterly unpredictable audience in the most totalitarian and isolated society in the world. This unusual and well documented journey to the far end of what has remained of the former communist East provides interesting material for analyzing the media interpretations of the East/West divide in the contemporary context. However, this paper focuses on the media debate in Slovenia informed by the local knowledge of Laibach’s significance and history which was largely lacking in the international coverage of this out-of-the-ordinary voyage.

The paper analyses the request of an Indian Parsi, living and working in the Republic of China, to the British consul in Peking to register his Chinese wife and their three children as British subjects in 1937. To a first marriage, that had been conducted according to the Chinese tradition in 1919, a second marriage followed in 1934. This was celebrated after the conversion of the couple to Catholicism. Of the three children, two sons had been born before the Catholic wedding, while the youngest one, a daughter, was born in 1935. The marriage of an Indian Parsi and a Chinese woman who later converted to Catholicism and married again is certainly an extremely rare event (if not a single one). The archival documents allow a better understanding of various aspects related to the issue of extraterritoriality of British subjects in the Republic of China, as well as the relationship of British institutions and English Common Law with the traditions of religious communities — and in this specific case, the Parsi Zoroastrian community — of the British Raj.

The study focuses on an analysis of the King-Byng affair, Canadian constitutional crisis of 1926. During the government crisis in Canada, the British Governor-General Lord Byng of Vimy denied the request of Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King to dissolve parliament and declare new elections. Lord Byng chose a different procedure instead, as a result of which he interfered significantly in internal Canadian politics. This incident contributed to a precise definition of the new office of Governor-General in dominions during the Imperial Conference in London in 1926. The Governor-General lost his office as representative of the British government and he became only the representative of the British monarch. The aim of this paper is to focus on what role the King-Byng affair plays in this transformation of the conception of Governor-General and in the process of establishment of the independence of Canada from its mother country.

South Africa’s participation in World War II was accompanied by a specific and, to some extent, paradoxical development. The declaration of war on Germany alongside Great Britain and other dominions was preceded by a government crisis that resulted in the collapse of Hertzog’s cabinet. The new coalition government led by Hertzog’s long-time political rival Jan Smuts had to face strong nationalist opposition. This opposition supported by Nazi Germany was extensive but fragmented, causing it to be defeated in the 1943 elections. However, this defeat led to a paradoxical result. The ultra-conservative and fiercely anti-British politician D.F. Malan became the undisputed leader of the opposition and capitalized on his position to clinch an electoral victory in 1948. The goal of this paper is to identify the reasons for this paradoxical development based on the analysis of both the activities of various opposition groups and personal animosities among their leaders. The analysis is based on the existing literature as well as on archival materials, in particular the reports of South African counterintelligence.

The paper deals with the problem of ethnic relations in Northern Transylvania after the Second Vienna Arbitration, when Hungarians became a majority and Romanians became a minority in the region, offering an overview of the problem from the political perspective. The paper concentrates on the analysis of the minority politics of the Erdélyi Párt, the most important party of the Transylvanians at that time, with special focus on its basic conception regarding ethnic problems in Transylvania. It presents the foundation of the Transylvanian Party, its representation in the Hungarian Parliament and its relations with the government concerning the minority issue. The paper tries to give an overview on of the politics of the Transylvanian Party regarding the national minorities in Northern Transylvania: Romanians, Germans and Jews. It presents the successes and the failures obtained by the party in this matter in some very important aspects. Finally, the decline of the Transylvanian Party and its political heritage are presented. The source material of the paper consists of archival data, publications of the Transylvanian Party, special books, studies and publications in the contemporary press.

After the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, which ended up Prague spring in August 1968, thousands of Czech (and Slovak) citizens went into exile. Out of estimated 162,000 people, who came to Austria within the next few weeks, some 12,000 refugees decided to stay there. The majority of them chose Vienna to be their new home. My paper deals with this group of Czech refugees and analyses a process of their integration into Austrian majority and how the process, which they had to undergo, changed their national identity. In the paper, which is based on various archive materials and my two field researches among Czechs in Vienna, I also deal with different concepts of national identity and integration. I applied Cooper and Brubaker’s concepts of ‘identification’ and ‘self-understanding’ to analyse deeper the various contexts of Czech refugees’ behaviour and to answer a research question, why it was more difficult for Czech refugees to integrate into existing Czech minority associations in Austria than into Austrian majority itself.

This paper aims to demonstrate that Critical Whiteness Studies (CWS) may provide useful tools for interpreting epidermalized relations of power in the international system and for challenging the racial dynamics that cut across the teaching, research and extension dimensions in the field of International Relations. This study shows that CWS have potential to support the implementation of Law 11.645/2008, which requires the inclusion, in a cross-curricular manner, of education regarding ethnic-racial relations in higher education curricula in Brazil. In this paper, I provide an introduction to the field of CWS, drawing primarily from the Brazilian afro-feminist contribution in pretuguês of Cida Bento, with her concept of narcissistic pacts of whiteness. Methodologically, this article makes use of a decolonial approach, based on bibliographic and documental research techniques. This paper stresses the importance of naming and historicizing the power of whiteness, to understand how it hegemonizes itself in space and time, and through which means it does so. It is a novel and original study, which innovates by introducing Black epistemologies and stating their applicability as regards teaching, research and extension, opening paths to destabilize the colonial support beams of the IR field.

The purpose of this article is to investigate the challenges that result from the convergence of different thoughts and opinions of eastern and western civilizations. We would like to emphasize the role of the international forum in the dialogue of these two sides, and the preconditions that are reflected in the dialogue on the Davos platform on social and political processes in the world. In addition, what changes have been produced by the formation of two different cultures and what positive or negative effects are reflected in the life of the peoples of the modern world. The subjects of our interests are the geographical spaces, as economic-political concepts, the geostrategic areas, including the aspects of dialogue between two different cultures. During the study of presented paper has been used Georgian, English, Spanish, German and Russian sources and literature, which gave a great background to the development of multilateral analytical discussions.

As is well known the Bohemian Revolt of 1618 to 1620 caused a broad media echo far beyond the Holy Roman Empire. Subsequently the three comets which appeared in large parts of Europe in fall and winter 1618/1619 triggered a similar long-running debate. This is reflected by a large series of treatises, pamphlets and letters as well as nomorous notes in contemporary chronicles and diaries used as the main sources for this article. In this light the paper discusses the controversy on the comets of 1618/19 with respect to the later escalation of the Bohemian Revolt to an European war. Both synchronous and retrospective views on these events will be examined indicating a significant shift of time horizons since 1621/22. Until then most pamphletists and writers didn’t associate the celestical signs of 1618/1619 with the bohemian rebellion or an even wider war. Afterwards this historical connection was quick to establish itself in contemporary chronicles and diaries reflecting above all a change of communicative memory on both affairs.

At the end of the 19th century Hirschberg (now Doksy), a small town in the north of Bohemia, started to benefit from the increasing tourism. To attract more tourists many institutions, organisations and individuals in and outside of Hirschberg constructed an idealistic image of the town defining it as a spa in the centre of a beautiful countryside. In this paper we focus on how the new image of Hirschberg was formed, what it was like and how it differed from the reality. We also try to analyse the influence of this image on the memory of the Germans who had to leave Czechoslovakia after the Second World War. In their commemorative literature many parts of the erstwhile advertising material often reappear. Published in this new context they seem to have created from Hirschberg and its surroundings a local memory space that symbolizes the beauty and harmony of the lost home land.

Gaddafi’s revolution fundamentally changed the approach of socialist states to Libya and opened new possibilities for cooperation between the Eastern bloc and the newly formed Libyan Arab Republic. As Czechoslovakia did not want to be left behind, it started trying to break into the Libyan market in the early 1970s, especially using Czech experts in the fields of healthcare, geology, and engineering. Beginning in 1974, Czechoslovakia started seeking to consolidate its position in the Libyan economy and to aid the country’s modernization by sending out experts under a scientific and technical cooperation program. However, it faced a number of obstacles. One such obstacle was the competition between the Warsaw Pact states in Libya. Prague sent hundreds of civilian experts to Gaddafi’s Libya between 1970 and 1989, contributing substantially to the reputation of socialist Czechoslovakia not only in Libya but throughout the Third World. Based on never-before-used materials from Czech archives, this study attempts to portray the workings of the scientific and technical cooperation between Czechoslovakia and Libya and its importance to Czechoslovakia-Libya relations. The text discusses, among other things, the question of Czechoslovakia’s self-representation as an autonomous business actor, and the problematic aspects of the life of Czechoslovak experts in Libya.

As part of its new international policy toward the Third World since the second half of the 1950s, the Soviet Union began developing a number of tertiary-level educational institutions in Asian and African countries. This article provides an outline of Moscow’s activity in this field from India and Cambodia to Algeria and Mali. It examines the objectives of the Soviet Union and the receiving states, looks at the achievements and limits of their cooperation, and argues for the importance of these mostly technical training institutions in the development of the receiving countries. At the same time, this article explores the educational and cultural work of Soviet professors serving in these schools, showing that both these professors and the schools became part and parcel of the Soviet Union’s friendly ties with selected Asian and African countries.

Since the 1960s, Czechoslovakia was very active in providing development aid to the newly established states in Africa. One of the most widely used instruments of this aid was the sending of expert groups from various fields. In view of the lack of reliable, yet sufficiently professional and linguistically equipped cadres available to the Czechoslovak government, emigration to the West was not uncommon among the experts sent. A more significant increase in emigration occurred immediately after 1968, when Warsaw Pact armies invaded Czechoslovakia. This article attempts to present the daily reality of Czechoslovak experts sent to Africa. It will focus on their motivations for going, the functioning of their communities and, through the stories of several experts, it will also outline the motivations and methods of emigration to the West through the country to which they were sent or reflections on emigration. The article is based mainly on materials from the Czechoslovak Ministry of Foreign Affairs and interviews with the experts or their close relatives. The stories of two water engineers, Antonín Petlach and René Sameš (Ghana), pharmacists Zdeňka and Otomar Věříš (Tunisia), and physician Jan Foustka (Ghana) will be discussed.

The first Czechoslovak pioneers of tropical and subtropical forestry appeared in the nineteenth century. Yet, only after the onset of the communist regime in Czechoslovakia in 1948, in connection with the advancing decolonization of the Global South and the culmination of the Cold War, did the dispatch of forest experts in post-colonial countries become a targeted and centrally-controlled policy of Prague. The first educational institutions focused on tropic forestry and Polytechna, a Czechoslovak foreign trade corporation whose task was to send Czechoslovak experts abroad, were established in the late 1950s. By the mid-1970s, when Angola gained independence, Czechoslovak authorities already had considerable experience with the dispatch of their forest experts in the global South. Such experts became part of the extensive Czechoslovak assistance to new pro-socialist Angolan government. This article, based on interviews with the former Czechoslovak experts sent to Angola after 1975, complemented by archival documents, analyzes their individual trajectories and experiences to show how this policy looked in practice.

Copyright of Quellen und Forschungen aus Italienischen Archiven und Bibliotheken is the property of De Gruyter 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.)

Modern public diplomacy scholarship recognises the role of exchange programmes as a public diplomacy tool for both sending and receiving countries. However, the vast majority of scholarship focuses on the exchange experiences of international students in officially or technically English-speaking countries. The internationalisation of higher education and competition in the international higher education market have led to the proliferation of English language higher education programmes in countries where English is not considered a native language. This paper is an attempt to fill the research gap by examining English-language higher education programmes in South Korea and China from a public diplomacy perspective. By conducting a series of in-depth interviews with students and professors/administrators representing English language-based programmes, the study aims to provide a preliminary understanding of whether such educational programmes function as public diplomacy for South Korea and China. The research found that, in contrast to the case of China, there was limited cooperation between Korean scholars and international scholars based in Korea. Friendships and networks with local students were not strong in either country. Overall, however, students in both South Korea and China were satisfied with their experience in the country, which may, at least in part, contribute to perceptions of the host country. The paper concludes that English language-based programmes are indeed a public diplomacy tool for South Korea and China in the selected cases. Further generalisations require additional investigations. Key words: international higher education, English language-based higher education program, public diplomacy, South Korea, China, education diplomacy, exchange diplomacy, academic cooperation, country image, nation branding

When discussing the issue of impunity, the ICL academia lacks attention to the concept of “impunity”. The understanding of the concept of impunity is limited to its damage to the value and function of criminal law, and ignores the ontological significance of the principle of equality to it. Therefore, it is impossible to explain the fundamental reason why the ICC cannot “end the history of impunity”. This paper examines the three dimensions of “impunity”. First of all, in the ontological dimension, this paper points out that impunity should be interpreted at “thick” and “thin” levels: “Thin impunity” focuses on the value and punishment function of ICL; “Thick impunity” means that the root cause of impunity is the failure to guarantee “equality before the law”. Secondly, from the perspective of epistemology, it is pointed out that the reason why the ICC can’t guarantee equality before the law lies in the “selectivity” of the court – “legal selectivity” and “political selectivity”. Finally, from the perspective of methodology, it is pointed out that the current situation of the international society in the horizontal/vertical dual structure and the structural defects of the Court decide that the ICC can’t end the impunity caused by the “absence of equality”, and advocates the introduction of the pioneering but little-known “International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG)” model, which provides an effective way to solve the problem of impunity. Key words: Impunity; Equality; ICC; Rule of Law; Selectivity; CICIG mode

Following the theorists of “entangled” and “dialogical memory” (F. Krawatzek, G. Feindt, A. Assmann, M. Rothberg, etc.), the paper deals with the dialogical/monological character of collective remembrance in new digital media, such as the hypertext Wikipedia. It focuses on the negotiation of the representations of dramatic events of World War II, such as the Munich Agreement or the expulsion of Germans from Czechoslovakia that exceed the national frameworks of remembrance.

On 7 February 2019 the largest evening paper in the Nordic countries, Aftonbladet, published an article on the scholar Martin Kragh, head of the Russia and Eurasia Programme at the Swedish Institute of International Affairs In Stockholm and researcher at Uppsala University. Kragh, according to Aftonbladet, was allegedly working for "a covert state intelligence organization in Great Britain," and he should therefore be investigated "by Swedish media and the security police." The problem with Aftonbladets claims is that they are false, and that they with a high degree of confidence had their origin in a Russian influence operation against the British think tank Institute for Statecraft. Using quantitative and qualitative method, this article analyses the origins and diffusion of the campaign Internationally and in Sweden as an informational cascade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Römische Historische Mitteilungen is the property of Oesterreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften Verlag 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 describes the modern history of international relations based on the liberalism-constructivism approach. The main goal is to decrease the importance of the state in international relations and to point out the importance of a number of other actors that influence communication in international relations (multinational companies, non-state actors, new social movements, media, etc.). Such expansion is also of importance for the Czechoslovak and West German relations in the 1950s and 1960s. At that time, official diplomatic relations did not exist, therefore the communication transpired via these non-state actors. Scientific workplaces focusing on the area of international relations played a key role in this process, namely the Czechoslovak Ústav pro mezinárodní politiku a ekonomii and the West German Deutsche Gesellschaft für Auswärtige Politik. However even these scientific institutions were influenced by the ideological and institutional settings of each respective country. The Ústav pro mezinárodní politiku a ekonomii in many aspects simply repeated propaganda statements of the Communist government towards West Germany. Due to its own activities aimed at the Czechoslovak and West German relations in the 1960s and the effort to gain a more independent position, it was disbanded in early 1970s. A new workplace was created instead, which was once again fully subordinate to the Communist party. On the other hand, the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Auswärtige Politik represents a modern think-tank created in the Anglo-Saxon world. In many propositions, the analysis formed their own, independent stances that often contradicted the official views of the West German government.

Mutual relations between the Bosnian Kingdom and the Serbian Despotate can be observed in the period between 1402, when Prince Stefan Lazarević received the title of despot from John VII Palaeologus, until the Ottoman conquest of the Despotate in 1459. The most significant conflicts between Bosnian rulers and nobles with Serbian despots were fought over the rich Srebrenica silver mine. This town, with the fortress of Srebrenik, was located in the Middle Podrinje region, near the river Drina, which in this area represented the border between the two countries. The stronger economic rise of Srebrenica was followed during the 14th century when it gradually developed and became one of the most important mines in Southeast Europe. The seeds of the conflict around Srebrenica were sown by the Hungarian King Sigismund of Luxembourg. The Hungarian king first managed to get Srebrenica for himself, and then in the period 1411–1413, he handed it over to his vassal, despot Stefan. From this time until the end of the existence of the Serbian Despotate in 1459, Srebrenica changed its owner several times. Bosnian kings, nobles, and Serbian despots took part in the conflicts around Srebrenica, and in certain periods specific agreements were established regarding the ownership of this place, which brought in large revenues. A solid number of sources about Srebrenica have been preserved in the State Archives in Dubrovnik due to the fact that the Ragusan merchants and craftsmen saw great economic potential in this place and established a large colony. The interests of the Ragusan authorities were moving in the direction of obtaining timely information from this place, and they often sent delegations to conduct diplomatic negotiations with the local authorities regarding the status of their citizens in this place.

Elisabeth of Görlitz, granddaughter of Charles IV, married Anthony, Duke of Brabant. After his death at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, she was forced to take care of her own well-being while being yet again embroiled in Luxembourg’s politics. This study will therefore focus on the period of time the young widow attempted to cope with her new life situation, maintain a good political and economic position and find a new husband.

Throughout the whole existence of their Empire, the Romans used the divide et impera polity against the European barbarians. The Romans tried to prevent the establishment of larger and more powerful political entities which could endanger them. Simultaneously, they supported rivalry amongst the tribal chieftains and provided the friendly ones with gold and goods. The arrival of the Huns into Europe did not initially bring any change to this international system. Since the 420s the Huns unified their own tribe and created close alliances with other tribes in Middle and Eastern Europe. This alliance had at last the military power to clash with the Romans and disrupt Roman international order across Europe. Because the Hunnic military power was not sufficient, their state was more of a tribal confederacy than a hierarchical and tightly controlled empire. The Hunnic Empire was also a short-termed affair limited to Attila’s life.

This article deals with the views of Cosmas of Prague, the first Czech chronicler, on the role of the Church and its relations with the laymen. The Chronicle of the Czechs contains discreet but harsh critics against the so-called Gregorian Reform and its proponents. However, the dean of the Prague chapter shared with the latter the claim for a stronger independence of the Church and a clearer division between the religious and the secular worlds. Indeed, the chronicler criticized some of the bishops of Prague because they were mostly the servants of the Přemyslid princes at the expense of their episcopal duties. Moreover, he showed the damages caused by prelates who shared the way of life and the values of laymen, especially those who were from the Ducal dynasty. The Chronicle of the Czechs is also a mirror for the prelates of Prague and thus draws the portrayal of the ideal bishop, a figure embodied by Otto of Bamberg. This contribution is then aimed to show that the Chronicle is also a precious source of the Czech views on the major changes that occurred during the 11th and early 12th centuries in Latin Christianity. From Prague, the claims of Rome seemed quite absurd, but the Czech Churchmen shared the ideals of their Western contemporaries and were searching for a way to adapt them to the local situation and to put them into practice.

This study is concerned with the political influence on late Merovingian episcopal hagiographic production and with the changes in the episcopal ideal. It focuses on how key elements such as the origins of the bishop, the manner of his induction into the episcopal office and the relationship between the bishop and the monarch, respectively the relationship between the performance of episcopal duties, political involvement and service at the court, are portrayed in hagiographic production. A method of comparative analysis of late Merovingian hagiographic production associated with Saint Arnulf of Metz, Audoin of Rouen, Eligius of Noyon, Aunemund of Lyon, Leudegar of Autun, and Praejectus of Clermont was applied.

The following text examines fief holding by women in the surviving charters from Saxony from about the 11th to the beginning of the 14th centuries. Specifically, these are the areas around Harz delimited by the five bishoprics of Meissen, Naumburg, Hildesheim, Halberstadt, and Merseburg. The basis for analysis is collections of charters from these dioceses supplemented by the collections of charters from the two most significant noble houses active in this area — the houses of Ascania and Welf. The selection of sources and region is not a coincidence: It is probably where Eike von Repgow lived most of his life and wrote his Saxon Mirror (Sachsenspiegel), which significantly influences the modern study of medieval law. Through an analysis of the terminology associated with fiefs and feudal institutions in general, as well as through specific examples of fief holding by women, this study attempts to show that the limitations on a woman holding a fief as defined by Eike in the Saxon Mirror and largely accepted in the contemporary literature are not entirely consistent with the testimony of these diplomatic sources.

Rendering a person stateless can have devastating and long-lasting consequences, restricting an individual’s ability to participate in society and severely curtailing their political, civil, economic, or social rights. This article delves into the relationship between the act of rendering a whole population stateless based on factors such as religion, ethnicity, or identity, and the commission of crimes against humanity such as torture, enslavement, and extermination. It is argued that the deliberate and unjust denial of nationality to a large group of people constitutes a crime against humanity of persecution and violates international law. The connection between making a population stateless and the perpetration of crimes against humanity has frequently gone unnoticed. The paper begins with an examination of the nature of statelessness, before moving on to a discussion on how the statelessness arising out of arbitrary deprivation of nationality invariably leads to crimes against humanity. The paper concludes with a suggestion to amend the definition of the crime against humanity of persecution under the Rome Statute to act as a deterrent for future violations. Key words: Legal regime of statelessness, nationality, arbitrary deprivation, persecution

In the late 19th century, Argentina, a country with great economic potential, finally solved most of the political problems that had hampered its development and started to fully exploit its capabilities. Stabilization of the country, along with the willingness of European merchants and banks to invest, was the main reason for the rapid development in the production of raw materials. Grain, meat and land became the main sources of prosperity during the 1880s as well as the prerequisite for a carefree government policy. Although Argentina’s disdain during the Baring crisis backfired, its development and prosperity at the turn of the century increased once again. This paper researches the consequences of the development of the Argentine export policy at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, its essential characteristics and the most important events that took place during the defined period that affected Argentine exports.