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Articles 1 - 11 of 11
Full-Text Articles in European Languages and Societies
Poland And The Ukraine War: A Geopolitical Analysis, Thomas Pitney
Poland And The Ukraine War: A Geopolitical Analysis, Thomas Pitney
Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection
Poland’s geopolitical role has enhanced since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. As such, Poland’s ambitions have increasingly important implications for regional, European, and global security. The paper attempts to address this phenomenon by posing the following research question: how does Poland pursue its interests in the Ukraine War? Employing qualitative methods on data collected from three formal interviews, one virtual interview, one informal interview, four statements from Poland’s leaders, and a variety of secondary sources, the study aims to answer this question modeling Gyula Csurgai’s (2019) geopolitical analysis framework. The research question is addressed in two ways. …
How Ultra Firms In Former Soviet And Yugoslav States Became Political Actors, Alex Pelletier
How Ultra Firms In Former Soviet And Yugoslav States Became Political Actors, Alex Pelletier
Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection
When you go to a football match one of the first things that you will undoubtedly notice are the ultras. Their loud coordinated chants and movement fill the stadium with energy that would not be there otherwise, and their tifo and flairs add an artist’s touch to the stands. There are ultras for just about every club, and every city in the world, with each group having their own unique identity. The local standing of football clubs, paired with the devoted and organized structure of ultras has seen them become political and military actors across the world. Ultras based in …
The Motif Of Children In War In Memorialization Practices In Serbia And Bosnia And Herzegovina, Ana Gvozdić
The Motif Of Children In War In Memorialization Practices In Serbia And Bosnia And Herzegovina, Ana Gvozdić
Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection
Studying the War Childhood Museum in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the monument to children killed in NATO bombing in Belgrade, Serbia, as well as the monument to killed children of besieged Sarajevo, this research project examines the motif of children in war within memorialization practices of Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Relying on six semi-structured interviews with members of civil society in Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as an employee of the War Childhood Museum, this research explores the role that the motif of children in war plays in remembering and portraying the past in these countries with …
The Public Secret And Private Pain Of Wartime Sexual Violence: Comparing The Heroinat Memorial And The 2020 Newborn Monument From The Perspective Of Ngos In Kosovo, Martha Beliveau
Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection
In a rare year where there are two monuments dedicated to survivors of wartime sexual violence in Kosovo, the permanent Heroinat Memorial and the year-long Newborn Monument have different approaches and effects in their processes of commemorating wartime sexual violence. This paper approaches a comparison of these two monuments through four interviews with representatives of women-centered civil society organizations in Pristina, Kosovo. This paper finds that the Heroinat Memorial and the 2020 theme of the Newborn Monument are sites of contested meanings, because of the different approaches of each respective monument, each of the monuments’ gendered implications, and the implications …
Internship Paper: Completed At The Humanitarian Law Center Kosovo, Julia Herzfeld
Internship Paper: Completed At The Humanitarian Law Center Kosovo, Julia Herzfeld
Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection
This paper discusses my experiences while online interning with the Humanitarian Law Center Kosovo, an organization based out of Prishtina and works to support inclusive and victims-centered transitional justice in Kosovo. I worked primarily on two research projects, one on the Transitional Justice Strategy of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the other on the status of criminal complaints filed by the Humanitarian Law Center in Belgrade to the Serbian justice system related to war crimes committed in Kosovo. While the circumstances surrounding my online internship were not ideal due to the Covid-19 pandemic, my experience greatly enhanced my knowledge of the …
The Truth In Fiction: A Discussion Of Educational Agency And Hierarchical Truth In Children’S Literature, Grace Griffin
The Truth In Fiction: A Discussion Of Educational Agency And Hierarchical Truth In Children’S Literature, Grace Griffin
Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection
I wrote and created With Wings and Words, a children’s picture book based off of interview material gathered about the 1989 Velvet Revolution, in order to demonstrate the inherent multiplicity of truth around historical events and break down the construction of a “national” truth by placing personal narratives and interpretations in conversation with each other. These narratives, while present and available in the Czech Republic, are important to display and discuss in order to avoid the oversimplification of events or erasure of the emotional complexities they cause. After consulting with various relevant Czech children’s books, I completed interviews and used …
A Secret In The Words Tales Of Literature And Dissent In Communist Czechoslovakia, Thea Toocheck
A Secret In The Words Tales Of Literature And Dissent In Communist Czechoslovakia, Thea Toocheck
Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection
In order to better understand the parallel culture of the 1970s and 1980s Czechoslovakia, this paper aims to tell the stories of six members of the Czechoslovak samizdat community: Marie Klimešová, Ivan Lamper, Ladislav Šenkyřík, Tomáš Tichák, Jáchym Topol, and Jarka Vrbová. Through personal interviews with these individuals, we understand how editors, typists, artists, writers, translators, and readers played significant parts in this parallel culture as well as how these people continue to play important roles in society today. While the tales told here are only parts of the lives of six individuals, they help reflect the impact of an …
Approaching Contemporary Terrorism, Jonathan Marcus
Approaching Contemporary Terrorism, Jonathan Marcus
Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection
This paper aims to analyze how governments of the modern era can better engage with contemporary terrorist organizations. It argues that nations and governments must alter their strategy on terrorism in light of its increasing prevalence and lethality in the modern era. Proclamations of non-negotiation, made with false perceptions that terrorists are simply irrational radical actors, are no longer viable if governments truly seek to reduce terrorist violence. In fact, it’s the ambiguity of terrorism and the major differentiation in the practices of various organizations which necessitate a more flexible strategy. Simply, the one-size-fits all solution of unequivocal no-negotiation is …
Child’S Play: A Service Learning Project Conducted At Roroš, Nové Mešto Pod Smrkem, Sanaya Attari
Child’S Play: A Service Learning Project Conducted At Roroš, Nové Mešto Pod Smrkem, Sanaya Attari
Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection
For my Independent Study Project, I designed a board game for young children inspired by the service learning activities held at ROROŠ. ROROŠ is a private organization located in the town of Nové Mešto pod Smrkem, offering different activities for children which provide a meaningful use of their leisure time. For a period of three weeks, I lived in Nové Mešto with Yveta Svobodová, one of the head directors of the organization. During my stay, I partook in several activities each week and used my experiences to generate new ideas when designing the final game. The game was completed by …
Driving Away: A Macro And Micro View Of The Prague Car Transit System, Danny Meyers
Driving Away: A Macro And Micro View Of The Prague Car Transit System, Danny Meyers
Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection
The purpose of the this study is to understand the rise in auto traffic in the city center of Prague since the Velvet Revolution and to use this understanding to make my own recommendations for policies I believe the city should enact to limit traffic in the macro and micro scale. The theoretical framework was created through observations of three specific streets and through interviews with urban planning experts. Although there are many different strategies for calming down traffic in Prague, the most important are to execute long term planning and to focus on limiting the numbers of cars in …
A Resistance, Remembered? Remembrance, Commemoration And The Parallel System In Prishtina, Kosovo, Conner Gordon
A Resistance, Remembered? Remembrance, Commemoration And The Parallel System In Prishtina, Kosovo, Conner Gordon
Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection
Though the 1999 war that liberated Kosovo from Serbian control is over fifteen years in the past, memories of the 1990s still remain in a state of chaos. This paper approaches the development of these collective memories through interviews with Prishtina residents about the memories and legacy of Ibrahim Rugova’s parallel structures in the 1990s. Though they draw from similar narratives as memories of the Kosovo Liberation Army’s armed resistance, memories of the nonviolent resistance play a vastly different and largely underrepresented role in current Kosovar Albanian public discourse. Through competing deployments of resistance memories, disproportionate memorialization of Kosovo’s violent …