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After the Sixth Comintern Congress in 1928, the Native Republic Thesis, or Black-Belt Thesis, became a noted platform for the Communist Parties of South Africa and the United States. The platform called for self-determination for Black Africans and Black Americans respectively. Historians have often reframed this platform as a call for selfdetermination on racial lines, and the thesis has become a prominent part of histories of these communist parties. Taking a comparative and transnational approach, this article argues that the Native Republic Thesis and its key tenets (including calls for a workers' and peasants' republic or for a nation within a nation) may have extended beyond the issue of racial selfdetermination. These tenets can be found, with some variation, in similar contemporaneous communist platforms in Latin America, Australia, Belgium and the Balkans. In the process of developing this argument, this article highlights the benefits of taking a fresh look at Comintern platforms from a transnational and comparative perspective; here this approach has suggested new questions about communist or Soviet perspectives on selfdetermination and nationhood, and about Comintern leadership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on Mátyás Rákosi's speech addressing the challenges faced by the Hungarian People's Democracy, including the fight against traditional beliefs, the power of the Catholic Church, and opposition from right-wing socialists. Topics include the increasing standard of living and the country's foreign trade and economic system; and the importance of discipline and sacrifice in building socialism that provided self-critical statements on economic issues.

The Soviet Union annexed the Baltic states in August 1940, an act Western democracies refused to recognize. Under somewhat different circumstances, the Baltic states could have turned, instead, into satellite 'People's Democracies' like Hungary - Communist-ruled but outside the Soviet Union. The annexed Baltic states played a major disruptive role during the demise of the Soviet Union. Might the Soviet Union have survived, had it disgorged the Baltic ferment in good time? The satellite option received mention repeatedly, from as early as June 1940 to as late as 1989. Here the focus is on 1965, when three Estonian refugees proposed a compromise: Washington might encourage Moscow to turn the Baltic states into satellites, the governments of which the USA could then recognize. For the Baltic nations, the main change would have been to curtail the influx of Russians. The reactions to this proposal are reviewed, ending with the question: what do alternate histories tell us about the actual one?. © 2013 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.

This document recently uncovered in the archive of the Central Committee of the Romanian Communist Party brings supplementary clarifications regarding Romania’s role in the establishment of the Comecon in January 1949. According to this document, Romania submitted the Soviet Union, on December 4 1948, the proposal of creating a permanent institution to coordinate the economic relations between the Soviet Union and the people’s democracies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective In 2012, Lao PDR introduced seasonal influenza vaccine in pregnant women, persons aged ≥50 years, persons with chronic diseases, and healthcare personnel. We assessed adverse events following immunization ( AEFI). Methods We used a multistage randomized cluster sample design to interview vaccine recipients. Findings Between April and May 2012, 355 902 were vaccinated. Of 2089 persons interviewed, 261 (12·5%) reported one or more AEFI. The most commonly reported AEFIs were local reactions. No hospitalizations or deaths were reported; 16% sought medical care. Acceptance and awareness of vaccination were high. Conclusions Following the introduction of seasonal influenza vaccine in Lao PDR, self-reported adverse events were mild. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: HIV infection is an emerging problem in Laos. We conducted the first prospective study on intestinal parasites, including opportunistic protozoa, in newly diagnosed HIV infected patients, with or without diarrhea. The aims were to describe the spectrum of infections, to determine their prevalence and to assess their associations with diarrhea, CD4 cell count, place of residence and living conditions. Methodology: One to three stool samples over consecutive days were obtained from 137 patients. The Kato thick smear method, formalin-ethyl concentration and specific stains for coccidia and microsporidia diagnosis were performed on 260 stool samples. Baseline characteristics regarding relevant demographics, place of residence and living conditions, clinical features including diarrhea, were collected using a standardized questionnaire. Principal Findings: The 137 patients were young (median age: 36 years) and severely immunocompromised (83.9% at WHO stage 3 or 4, median CD4 cell count: 41/mm3). Diarrhea was present in 43.0% of patients. Parasite infection was found in 78.8% of patients, infection with at least two species in 49.6%. Prevalence rates of protozoan and helminth infections were similar (54.7% and 58.4% respectively). Blastocystis sp. was the most frequent protozoa (26.3%). Cryptosporidium sp., Cytoisospora belli and microsporidia, found at low prevalence rates (6.6%, 4.4%, 2.9%, respectively), were described for the first time in Laos. Cryptosporidium sp. was associated with persistent diarrhea. Strongyloides stercoralis was the most prevalent helminth following Opisthorchis viverrini (20.4% and 47.5% respectively). The most immunocompromised patients, as assessed by a CD4 count ≤ 50 cells/mm3, were more likely to be infected with intestinal parasites. Conclusions/Significance: HIV infection was mainly diagnosed at an advanced stage of immunosuppression in Lao patients. Intestinal parasite infections were highly prevalent regardless of their diarrheal status. Opportunistic infections were reported. Improving the laboratory diagnosis of intestinal parasite infections and the knowledge on their local risk factors is warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A detailed account of the general elections in Finland in March 2007 is provided. The elections saw the two main non-socialist parties emerge ahead of the Social Democrats thus holding out the possibility of an end to the Social Democratic hegemony and the normalization of center-right government in Finland.

Borzeşti Industrial Platform was built after the year of 1950 as a result of country's industrialization made by the communist administration. Thus, the great industrial units appeared: the Refinery no. 10, the Chemical Plant, the Synthetic Rubber Plant which formed the Borzeşti Petrochemical Platform, the Steam Power Plant and the Chemical Equipment Enterprise were also remarkable and in all these over 22,000 of employees were working as of the late 80's. In the post-December period these industrial units have passed to massive restructuring because they had reduced very much the activity, moreover numerous sections ceased activity due to the lack of raw materials as a result of loosing certain marketplaces or of the reduced investments during the last decades. After the year 2000 the industrial giants from the platform barely work and a few companies have closed turning into unemployed thousands of people, who had to search for work abroad. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recently won People's Democracy (Loktantra) in Nepal has transpired a contested yet ever demanding platform furthering rights and identity movements. The availability of alternative voices through community radios is a space to emancipate the identity movement towards indigenous empowerment and asserting their respectful and equitable entry in to "New Nepal." Within the theoretical framework of identity and democracy this research is based on the study of community radios as "case study organizations." We have used media ethnography and media text analysis including the observation to both corroborate and contradict with the participants' understandings and expressions in the research. We find that indigenous communities can reflect their agenda of identity re-establishment towards empowerment through the active participation in the production of media contents. Active participation of indigenous communities in local radio production not only mandates acknowledgement of ethnic identity in the new nation building but also give an opportunity of lesson learning on the potentiality of using community radios as one of the tools for empowerment. In this context, reestablishment of identity through community radio deserves appreciation because it facilitates the creation of discursive space which will ultimately help to establish pluralist democracy by creating different public spheres. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent reinterpretations of the history of socialist Yugoslavia, which broke up at the time of the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe (1989–1991), have revived old and opened new controversies concerning the character and policy of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia (KPJ) at the time of the establishment of the Federal People’s Republic of Yugoslavia (FNRJ) following the Second World War. One of them credits the “absolutization” of Josip Broz Tito’s charisma for the establishment and functioning of KPJ rule. The main aim of this article is to challenge such claims by providing an analytical account of the formative years of socialist Yugoslavia based upon primary archival sources. These sources illustrate that rather than Tito’s omnipotence, the decisive factor in the functioning of KPJ power was the clientelistic structure of hierarchical party and state organization. This paper argues that the establishment of clientelistic group-rational behavioral patterns in the KPJ structure and state organization drove the institutionalization of loyalty between the patron, the Politburo of the Central Committee of the KPJ (KPJ CC Politburo), and the client, the communist nomenklatura, an organized social network of party cadres occupying all significant functions in the society. The social origin of the members of the nomenklatura, that is, the new worker-peasant class organized at the level of federal units, was the basis for the legitimacy and functioning of KPJ power from 1945 through 1952. The revolutionary authority of the KPJ, which had been won through the partisan anti-fascist people’s liberation struggle during the Second World War, legitimized itself in this period through clientelistic structural dynamics in the political system of a “people’s democracy.” In order to explore these arguments, this article applies a generic-structural historical analysis to the dynamics of the social and political KPJ structures in 1945–1952 Yugoslavia. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Objectives: The People’s Democratic Republic of Laos belongs to the minority of countries worldwide without an established newborn bloodspot screening (NBS) system.Methods: In 2008, we initiated a pilot project of a neonatal screening system in the delivery suites of the Laotian capital, Vientiane. Samples were analysed for thyrotropin-stimulating hormone and 17-hydroxyprogesterone.Results: Altogether 11 362 samples were taken; an initially high recall rate dropped eventually to just above 4%. Two cases of hypothyroidism and one case of congenital adrenal hyperplasia were identified and received timely treatment.Conclusions: In summary, we have demonstrated the feasibility of establishing an NBS system in a low-resource setting as prevalent in Laos. Obstacles for the establishment of a general NBS covering the whole country include the question of financial cover, treatment costs, and adequate teaching and supervision of technicians and doctors. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The below text aims to analyse the structure of dependency of Poland from the USSR in reference to historical sciences, and the mechanisms by which Moscow imposed its vision of history on Warsaw. The control system of science in the Soviet Union and in the countries of the so-called „People's democracies” was based on a few large-scale pillars, each dully fulfilling their role. At the top of the pyramid of power and the party hierarchy was the Central Committee of the CPSU (the Communist Party of the Soviet Union), which, above all, combined the functions of a body governing the state's life, and secondly dealt with matters concerning the party ideology and propaganda. The various departments of the Central Committee, all subordinate research institutes and state institutions, created a complex body controlling the historical sciences in the USSR and abroad on behalf of the Communist Party. On the second level, which may be conventionally described as scientific, one may find different research institutions concentrated in the structure of the Academy of Social Sciences of the USSR, with the Institute of Slavic Studies of the Academy of Social Science of the USSR, having a special place. The Institute of Slavic Studies and the Institute of History of the USSR were considered a kind of a laboratory where, in consultation and close cooperation with various institutions and the Central Committee's The History of the All-Union Communist Party (bolshevics) / CPSU, the Soviet vision of the Polish history was being forged. An important role in the control of scientific relations between the Soviet Union and the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, were assigned to the so-called, social organizations of cultural and educational nature, among others Slavonic Committee, Union of Soviet Societies for Friendship and Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries, et al. The key, however, place was given to a Science Division of the CPSU, which formula- ted the most important guidelines for historians, research centres and publications. The historical science was one of the tools used by ideology and state policy. Changing priorities or the specific way of treating certain issues, which meant matching the facts to respective concepts or frequently upfront falsification, were not due to the requirements of theoretical and methodological nature, but merely a temporary „correction” of a current course. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Development, from a broad perspective, is neither new nor uncommon. As a result of media attention, Westerners are becoming more versed on global development challenges to reduce poverty, hunger and disease. Some of the world's most famous actors have become activists and now serve as spokespeople for organizations that promote development. However, missing from these efforts is clear understanding of the unique needs and desires of various people of the world and, as a result, the best way to assist them in the fulfillment of those needs often remains unexplored. From the perspective of interpretive anthropology with selected theories drawn from a critical hermeneutic orientation, this paper investigates concepts of development. More specifically, it focuses on governmental policies in Laos that promise to develop a more efficient primary health care system that is readily accessible to all communities. One community greatly affected by such policies are the Hmong, an ethnic minority among the hill people of Laos. For generations, the Hmong have practice traditional, or what some refer to as alternative, healing. Through government-sponsored migrations, Hmong villages are on the move to lower lands and are being introduced to western medicine. This paper seeks to examine the meeting of these two ways of healing using Ricoeur's (1984, 1985, 1988) theories of narrative identity, mimesis and action as the framework for explorations of the research inquiry. This research will focus on changing the lens from which health care is viewed, shifting it away from being seen as a linear process to one that is understood as an interpretative, encompassing and complimentary process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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There are three dimensions in Chinese style democracy which refer to the dimension of people's democracy and intra party's democracy, the dimension of elective democracy and deliberative democracy, and the dimension of top democracy and grassroot democracy. As democracy is a whole body, the three dimensions and those aspects in each dimension should he closely linked. But given the complexity of contemporary Chinese society and the difficulty of democratic development, we always place more emphasis on one dimension or aspect when we choose the breakthrough of democratic development. However, the democratic experience in the last years shows that resolving democracy to different democratic forms and then promoting separately one democratic form can not bring through the development of other democratic forms. On the contrary, that will hinder the systematic promotion of democracy, obscure the real meaning of democratic development and make Chinese style democracy still an illusion in people's dream. Therefore, to promote truly the Chinese style democracy, we should redefine democracy, grasp precisely the three dimensions of Chinese style democracy, and promote coordinately Chinese style democracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chinese party system origins from the development of Chinese society. At the same time, it is the important element of Chinese democratic politics. The paper systematically make clear the mutual relation between party system and democratic growing up in China. Only through effectively embedding party system into the state institution and inosculating as a whole, in my opinion, can people's democracy be consolidated and developed. Moreover, party system can adequately be maintained and consolidated by complying with the inherent requirement of the operation of the state institution. Political negotiation is the bridge of interaction between state and party. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the beginning stage of China's democratic construction, the theory of Western consultative democracy spread to China, and many scholars were unavoidably affected, linking this theory to China's political consultation system. The premise that people's democracy is the life of socialism consultative democracy actually makes clear that socialism consultative democracy and Western consultative democracy are totally different types of democracy, and makes clear the relationship between socialism consultative democracy and people's democracy: people's democracy is the essential part and goal of socialism consultative democracy, while the development of socialism consultative democracy provides strong energy for the development of people's democracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In research on social risks and insecurity qualitative methods have obvious advantages and successfully complement statistical quantitative approaches, which have been practiced for decades. This study is based on the thirty-two in-depth interviews collected in the period June 2003 to January 2004 for the project "Life Plans and Life Paths in the Post-Socialist Estonia." The interviewees are representatives of the so-called "generation of winners", i.e. the people aged 20 or 30 years at the beginning of the period of post-socialist reforms. The paper examines representations of social risks and challenges of the transition period in the biographical interviews as well as discursive patterns and strategies that interviewees use to produce relatively coherent biographical narratives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the challenges of teaching students about socialism in China before the establishment of markets in 1976. The author uses the play "Fanshen" by David Hare to illustrate the transformative effect of the revolution on the economic and political lives of Chinese peasants. The politics of China following the establishment of the Zhongguo Gong Chan Dang, or Chinese Communist Party (CPC), government in 1949 are characterized in terms of how "Fanshen" presented the issues behind the cultural revolution, the hundred flowers campaign, and the great leap forward. Efforts to relate Chinese discussions of what made a worker and the relationship between politics and technical expertise to the experience of students in the U.S. are addressed.

The article focuses on think tanks and their contribution in shaping politics in Great Britain. The author discusses two British think tanks, the Institute for Public Policy Research and Demos. He points out that these organizations have been negatively viewed to influence public policy but their contribution to social democracy is ignored.

Opinion. Presents information on a study aimed at bringing Marx's general theory of exploitation into line with contemporary theories regarding distributive justice by liberal egalitarians in communist countries. Discussion on Marx's general theory; Comparison of the labor theory and the Marx's theory; Detailed information on power and property rights; Examination of communist justice; Background information on the research.

The dissolution of Soviet power in Eastern Europe and the demolition of the Communist Party's monopoly of power in the Soviet Union have created an unprecedented political situation. Conventional political theory East and West offers no guide to this situation, nor does the thinking of the East European opposition movements prior to 1989. In particular the thesis that 'civil society' offers the basis for a new democratic politics is challenged; however powerful the idea of civil society as opposed to the authoritarian state may have been as a focus for resistance to Communist regimes it cannot be sustained in the new conditions. The paper further examines the reasons for the collapse of Soviet power and the likely prospects and rationales for the survival of the central government in the Soviet Union. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the study of politics in the West, `democracy' is treated in two different ways. An established group of political scientists, interested in the conditions favouring democratization, assume that the principal western countries are ‘democracies’ in as strong a sense as one might realistically use the term. Much democratic theory, on the other hand, is critical of western institutions and seeks ‘emancipationst’ extensions of democracy into the home and the workplace. Both have a very limited value as instruction for those seeking to democratize societies which do not already have democratic institutions, especially the former communist countries. The ‘emancipationist’ prescriptions of radical democratic theorists are largely irrelevant to the culture and standard of living of the societies in question while the more conservative political scientists tend to regard the values to which democratizers aspire, including democracy, private ownership, stability, prosperity and freedom, as a causal cluster, ignoring the very important tensions between them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses the dramatic contrast in outcomes from the reform process in China and Russia. This experience sheds new light on the old debate about the relationship between political institutions, economic progress and human rights. It explores the arguments of principle involved in the debate about democratization in the communist countries. It examines the political setting within which the economic reforms were enacted in China and Russia. It argues that political choices made by the respective leaders were important factors determining the respective economic outcomes. It argues that in large reforming communist countries democratization of politics may damage economic performance and hence, have a deleterious effect upon a range of human rights other than the right to vote in elections. In such countries the link between political democratization and human welfare seems to have been inverse. This is an extremely important and largely unexpected result which goes strongly against the grain of a large body of Western social science thinking in the recent past. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on people's participation in planning. The author says political literature is full of authors or politicians who value the masses or the people, which is even practiced in governments that are claiming to rule by divine right and the People's Democracies. In church levels, there are different levels of people, which includes church leaders, the people of God and the wider community. He concludes that popular participation in planning must be included from the very start.