Eastern European Studies Commons^™

Demokracja Elektorska I Populistyczna Z Perspektywy Wyboru D. Trumpa Na Presydenta Usa, Rett R. Ludwikowski

Scholarly Articles

The article aims to investigate the effectiveness of the American system of "electoral democracy". Considering this problem from a comparative perspective, the author notes that the American system of "electoral college" has not become a universally accepted standard for countries with a federal system or states with ethnically strong regional centers. In essence, each presidential election in the United States which ended in the victory of one candidate in the general, popular election and the other in the Electoral College, resulted in inter-party conflicts, mass demonstrations of dissatisfaction of citizens disappointed by the US electoral system and even in the …

Medieval Heresis And Protestantism, Maja Angelovska-Panova

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

In addition to the current social and political circumstances, the appearance of heresies and reform movements during the Middle Ages. was largely determined by the educational tendencies and movement of humanism, which concentrated on the matter of the human being. Thisarticle offers a digressive analysis that examines the appearance, essence, and significance of Bogomilism, Catharism, Waldensians and their implications for later reform movements—more specifically Protestantism. It should be emphasized that in this context, such ideas, characteristic of medieval heresies, impacted Protestantism, as seen in the works of John Wycliffe (1328-1384) and Jan Hus (1369-1415). In fact, they were qualified to …

Protestantization Of The Roma From Southeastern Serbia, Dragan Todorović

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The Protestantization of the Roma refers to the recent process of mass involvement of Serbian Roma in small religious communities of Protestant provenance.

The research was conducted using the deep interview method on the basis of a structured questionnaire with baptized believers of Roma nationality belonging to the Christian Baptist Church, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Christian Adventist Church, and Evangelical Pentecostal Church in the territory of Southeastern Serbia. The sample included both Roma and non-Roma high clergy of the abovementioned religious communities, as well as religious leaders of major religions of the region (Serbian Orthodox Church and Islamic Community).

This paper describes …

Stasi Brainwashing In The Gdr 1957 - 1990, Jacob H. Solbrig, Jacob Hagen Solbrig

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the methods used by the Ministerium für Staatssicherheit (MfS), more commonly known as the Stasi, or East German secret police, for extraction of information from citizens of the German Democratic Republic for the purpose of espionage and covert operations inside East Germany, as it pertains to the deliberate brainwashing of East German citizens. As one of the most efficient intelligence agencies to ever exist, the Stasi’s main purpose was to monitor the population, gather intelligence, and collect or turn informants. They used brainwashing techniques to control the people of the GDR, keeping the populace paralyzed with fear …

How Patriotic Are Albanians? The Comparative Study Of Patriotic Attitudes In Albania And The Albanian Diaspora, Anxhela Spahiu

Master's Theses

In today’s post-modern digital world, patriotism may not be as prevalent as in the past. In this thesis, my principal aim is to investigate to what extent Albanians, a nationality to which I belong, identify with a patriotic attitude toward Albania. I chose to focus not only on Albanians who live in the diaspora, like myself, but also on Albanians who live in Albania. I believe that to understand national pride to its fullest, you must study the attitudes of those who live in the country of origin as well as of those who live in the diaspora. Many people …

When Rules And Common Sense Collide: Expressions, Roots, And Impact Of Informal Civil Society In Ukraine, Svitlana Krasynska

Dissertations

Western donors have dominated third sector developments in contemporary Eastern Europe in efforts to replicate their own institutional models as a way of reconstructing the region’s post-totalitarian civil society. These efforts resulted in limited success, frustrating the donor community and puzzling scholars. Civil society in the region has long been labeled as weak based on a general lack of citizen participation in formal organizations. This dissertation argues that such assessment of civil society fails to recognize the role of below-the-radar civic engagement in contexts where informal practices permeate economic, political and social spheres.

Based on 70 in-depth interviews with civil …

There And Almost Back Again, Holley Adcock

Occasional Paper Series

Adcock reflects on and asses her thirty years of experience living and teaching overseas in places all over the globe. This essay focuses on the changes to both individual and national identity that take place when immersing oneself in other cultures.

Integration Policy And Outcomes For The Russian-Speaking Minority In Estonia, Silviu Kondan, Mridvika Sahajpal

Claremont-UC Undergraduate Research Conference on the European Union

Estonia’s integration policy vis-à-vis its Russian-speaking residents was developed and reformed several times since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. While comparative data from the international community certainly indicates that Estonia has progressed in the realm of social, political and societal integration, the ‘success’ for each individual policy is now increasingly measured—and contested— within broader considerations of geopolitical security and minority rights. The authors converge interview-based data compiled from various representatives and scholars of nongovernmental organizations, government agencies, and think tanks with secondary research on the topic of Russian minority integration in Estonia. The report will seek to …

Invitation: A Declaration Of European Muslims, Mustafa Cerić

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

"The tragic events of September 11, 2001 in New York, March 11, 2004 in Madrid and July 7, 2005 in London leave no one indifferent. Of course, one should be aware of other attacks, such as in Riyadh in 1995, Dhahran in 1996, Nairobi and Dar es Salaam in 1998, Yemen in 2000, Bali in 2002, and Istanbul in 2003. The attacks in New York, Madrid, and London are the most disturbing to Islam-West relations however. Muslims around the world, especially, have been shocked by the fact that the perpetrators of these terrorist attacks claimed to have acted in the …

A Time To Laugh: Religious Humor In Contemporary Russia, Mikhail Sergeev

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

"Contemporary Russian religious humor continues the tradition of this spiritual and selfsacrificial laughter. The anecdotes that are gathered here make fun not only of religion and its characteristic attributes, but of human imperfections and shortcomings, which manifest themselves in relation to various aspects of worship. Everything is good in moderation, including religious zeal that is not the goal by itself, but the instrument of spiritual and moral development. There is a proverbial saying in Russia—force a fool to pray to God and he will beat his forehead. Many anecdotes portray in a comic light this certain pseudo-piety, the eternal human …

Lessons Learned In Eurasia Ministry: Mostly The Hard Way, Mark R. Elliott

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The present article is based on a speech delivered at a conference of the United Methodist Church: “Eurasia-Central Asia – In Mission Together,” Fulton, Maryland, May 5, 2017.

Review Of Makrides, Wasmuth, And Kube's "Christentum Und Menschenrechte In Europa. Perspektiven Und Debatten In Ost Und West., Dr. Regina Elsner

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

No abstract provided.

Spectacular Politics And Everyday Performance: Tracing Music From Ceauşescu’S Romania To Multicultural America, Benjamin Dumbauld

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Drawing from fieldwork conducted throughout the United States and Canada, this dissertation examines the continued performance of socialist-era music within the Romanian-American community. It addresses why a community largely made up of people who sought to leave the country during the authoritarian regime of Nicolae Ceauşescu continue to perform music tied to that period by tracing the historical performance and reception of multiple genres, ranging from traditional peasant music to folk rock. The dissertation begins by examining the nationalization of Romania’s music industry under the early socialist regime (1944-1965), and locates the difficulties Communist Party members confronted in delineating a …

Frontmatter, Paul B. Mojzes

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

Readers of OPREE are likely to consider different articles to be of importance to them and perhaps to the wider readership. Generally, I avoid trying to influence the readers as to the importance of the content of this publication as I rely on the intelligence and goodwill of the readers. In this issue, I am making an exception. Often I have heard friends in the USA and abroad complaining that so-called moderate Muslims do not publically condemn Islamist terrorism and do not provide alternative voices to the militants. From my extensive contacts with Muslims, I know this not to be …

The Orthodox Church And Religious Minorities In Shida Kartli Region In Georgia In The First Quarter Of The Twentieth Century, Giorgi Sosiashvili, Phd

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

"We think that it is of utmost importance to disclose the facts about the uncommon treatment that took place during Soviet rule in the 1920s towards the Georgian Orthodox Church and all the other religious confessions."

Review Of Kotiranta's "The Finnish And Estonian Churches During The Cold War", Paul Mojzes

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

No abstract provided.

Review Of Akšamija's "Letter Pismo, Brief, List, Risālah", Paul Mojzes

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

No abstract provided.

Final Report Ay 2017-2018: Initiative For The Development Of Global And International Studies In Social Science Courses At Parkland College, Isabel Scarborough Ph.D.

Global Studies Initiatives in Social Sciences 2017-2018

This project set out to provide social science faculty at Parkland College with instructional design training tools and aid them in infusing their courses with global studies materials. It also wished to promote the addition in these same courses of current case studies from underrepresented world areas such as the European Union, Eastern Europe, Eurasia, and Russia. Lastly, it hoped to add pedagogical sample assignments and class activities on global studies to Parkland College’s open access repository, as well as acquire scholarly works on globalization for the college’s library collection. This project was successfully completed during the Fall semester of …

Žumberak: A Sixteenth-Century Refugee Settlement Zone, Nicholas J. Miller

History Faculty Publications and Presentations

This article examines the movement of Orthodox Christian refugees from Bosnia to the Habsburg Monarchy in the 1530s and their settlement in a district called Žumberak. The movement of these Uskoks has never been examined in the context of refugee studies. This study of a refugee movement and settlement over a five-century period offers the possibility of reaching a better understanding of the long-term outcome of refugee movements. Ultimately, this article suggests that the refugees affected the land they settled as much as the settlement zone affected them, and that, in this case, the refugees were able to define their …

Restoration Of The St. Clement’S Ohrid Archbishopric- Patriarchate As The Macedonian Orthodox Church And Ohrid Archbishopric, Aleksandar Trajanovski

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

This is a brief narration of the creation of St. Clement's Ohrid Archbishopric-Patriarchate as the Macedonian Orthodox Church-Ohrid Archbishopric from ancient times to recent times. The author first returns to the founding of the first three Macedonian and, generally, European Christian churches in Philippi, Thessalonica, and Berea by the Apostle Paul and his associates around the middle of the first century, AD. Then, he proceeds to the creation of the autocephalous Archbishopric Justiniana Prima (534-545) by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I in Skopje or in its surroundings. The work of the Holy Apostle Paul and Emperor Justinian I was continued …