Did towns exist in Central Europe before the arrival of German and Western European settlers in the twelfth century, and before the establishment of chartered towns, created and consciously planned by the newly arrived? Is it appropriate to designate some of the settlements that existed prior to this major process, which would change the face of these regions forever, as towns? The main problem causing all this uncertainty is contained in the fact that, contrary to the situation in later centuries, there is no unequivocal criterion to discern a town from other types of settlements in the area of Europe situated east of the Rhine and north of the Danube prior to the appearance of chartered towns. Most of the definitions social scientists and then applied to past societies, to see if they fit our schemes of understanding. In this article, the question is asked from the point of view of these societies themselves: what did the people of this period imagine a town to be, and how did they apply their understanding of what a town is to the settlements they actually saw before their eyes? Representations of early urban settlements by contemporary authors writing in Latin are very different from the definitions proposed by scholars nowadays. The criteria which are the most usual today to define the urban character of given agglomerations were very far from the concerns of medieval authors. Great caution should be taken when dealing with the words used by medieval authors to describe their societies. What they had in mind was very different from our own conceptions. Apart from that, many of the aspects that were important for medieval authors - beautiful appearance, notoriety of a settlement - simply cannot be verified in the material culture
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In Central Europe culture played a fundamental part in creating social bonds and the shaping of identity. Myths and symbols present in literature, painting and music possess a strong political connotation. In contrast to the western part of the Continent, which with the assistance of literature created myths and symbols endowed with a universal quality, in Central Europe they are always firmly associated with national history. The difficulty of studying that which transpires in Central Europe stems from, i. a. the overlapping of the 'western' and 'eastern' models, from which assorted features are borrowed while adding one's own, original solutions. This state of affairs calls for exceptional alertness, since the evolution of Central Europe is the resultant of choices and the direct surrounding, often known as the 'geopolitical situation'. The presented text is an attempt at analysing several myths and political symbols envisaged as the mechanisms of identity and difference. This concrete question - the attitude towards memory and oblivion - is shown as an example of the profound difference between the cultural psychology of Central Europe and the West, Europa felix.
The study is a follow-up to the recently published articles in Vojenská história, which analysed the causes, development and consequences of the Czech-Hungarian wars for the Babenberg heritage. The epilogue of this great Central European conflict from the 2nd half of the 13th century, resulting in the military victories of the Czechs (and defeat of the Hungarians on the other side) and finally in the diplomatic dominance of the Habsburgs, which prevailed over the activities of the Czech king Přemysl Otakar II., represented the final international isolation of the Czech king and the final military conflict, which resulted in the Battle of Marchfeld in 1278, with the Hungarian and Reich units defeating the Czech king. The study continues the topic of war on the Babenberg heritage, in which this Central European focus of the topic against the background of the relationships of the Austrian countries, Czech countries and the Hungarian Crown concentrates on the detailed analysis of sources in terms of participation of the Hungarian noblemen as well as the development of military events. In the Slovak historiography, no sufficient attention was paid to this topic and even if it has been processed in detail abroad, it is beneficial mostly in terms of its orientation on the Hungarian sources, the diplomatic material in particular. The paper is based on a consistent work with the primary sources of both narrative and diplomatic nature, the author has critically researched and put into context. The secondary literature is also largely represented and applied correctly.
This paper analyses the European Union's Cohesion Policy under the 2007-2013 budgetary constraints as seen from the perspective of the new - Central European - member states. In the introduction, the author conceptualises the term 'Central Europe' pointing out the highly diverse and relative way of defining it, both in scholarly literature and in political discourse. Due to the fact that the accession of new states from Central Europe increased the regional disparities (measured in social and economic standards), the role of cohesion policy got strengthened, making its budget the largest part of total EU expenditures. Consequently the efficiency of the policy is put into consideration, including the methodology of evaluations, the criteria used, and objectives. In the concluding part of the paper it is emphasised that the EU Cohesion Policy has also served as a mechanism which promotes a more 'human face' of the European integration process, going beyond a simple 'market friendship' to include ambitions to build a political community based on solidarity foundations. It is the only EU policy that explicitly addresses the economic and social inequalities within the European territory.
This research aims to investigate inclusive growth in six selected Central European countries (Austria, Germany, and the V4 countries) during the years 2006 – 2012. We have relied on the assumption that pro-poor growth, according to its absolute definition, is in line with the definition of inclusive growth (World Bank, 2009). To investigate pro-poor growth, the poverty equivalent growth rate methodology proposed by Kakwani et al. (2004 and 2008) has been applied. Pro-poor growth has been analysed according to its absolute, relative and poverty reducing definitions. The results show that the selected countries experienced positive economic growth accompanied by absolute pro-poor growth throughout the time range analysed, but in only few time periods, and not for all of the poverty measures applied.
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Along with new ideas inspiring the design of science and knowledge, we observe numerous innovations in the ways of publishing research outcomes. It is possible that digital media together with artificial intelligence are causing permanent changes in scientific communication and in the design of research and publications. In the humanities, this phenomenon has led to the production of academic video and “born-digital” publications. How do these tendencies and initiatives fare in the environment of Central European universities? We have conducted an inquiry into this issue within the pilot research project Interfaces of Science, and the answers given by Slovak, Czech and Polish scientists and researchers indicate that they do not enjoy adequate conditions to develop zeal and openness.
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(Slovak title: Autorsko-herecka poetika Daria Fo v stredoeuropskom kontexte (Dario Fo a jeho Maly manual herca v kontexte jeho divadla)). The paper is a continuation of Preco je Dario Fo nositelom Nobelovej ceny? (What Makes Dario Fo the Nobel Prize Winner?), published in Slovak Theatre No. 4/2009. This time, the author-and-actor poetics of Dario Fo is in the centre of attention; it is analysed and recreated against the backdrop of the comparisons with theatre theoreticians, such as Konstantin Stanislavsky, Bertoldt Brecht, Luca Ronconi, and also Jerzy Grotowski. What one finds in Dario Fo is Stanislavsky's identification with the character, however, without the mystic element, Brecht's educated actor, however, without the effect of alienation, the simplicity of costumes and the stage typical of the poor theatre. This blend, or collage if you will, of several well-known 20th century theatre techniques, enriched with internalisation and foregrounding and the updating of the jocular theatre technique and add flair of originality to the Fo's author-and-actor poetics.
The introduction presents basic facts about the work of Max Dvořák, one of the founding fathers of the 20th-century art history, whom the given issue of Ars is dedicated to. It also summarizes how the art historical community perceived ideas of this distinctive Central European scholar in course of the 20th century.
'Littleness' appears as relevant for certain culture when it is determined by its own or foreign texts. This determination in an intercultural contact behaves as an explicit or implicit valuing act approached within the positions of superiority, inferiority, identity, alterity, translativity, singularity, as well as ancienity and juvenility. In the specific situation of the Slovak national revival an essay by Jozef Miloslav Hurban 'Slovensko a jeho zivot literárny' (Slovakia and Her Literary Life) is an important text of apologetic legitimating strategy of Slovak culture in the Central European context. Hurban uses mostly the term 'vitality of Slavs', which had been attributed to them since Herder, and in comparison with ancient European cultural nations he creates a picture of a dynamic Slovak young man, smartly walking towards a new epoch. Both an argument of time and an argument of placing were presented to stress the central position of Slovaks in the project of renewing the Central Europe. The argument of placing was usually presented in the glorification of High Tatras. In the changed constellation of the 20th century motivating power of important ideological potential of the essay was weakened. Hurban suggested a concept of future Slovak culture, also outlined with the aim against Czechs and Magyars, resisted only to a very limited extent the pressure coming from the Central European constellation after 1848, as also proved in the final passages of his essay.
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The area of biomedicine is one of the fastes developing areas of science and technology. The perception of its possible and expected positive or negative impacts results in the growing number of bioethical discussions in scientific community, politics and public. Their intensity, focus and used methods differ from country to country. The authors of the prologue have tried to map the state of the art and expected development of bioethical discussion in the countries of Middle and Eastern Europe. In the beginning, they addressed the bioethical experts with short questionnaire from 7 'new' European countries (Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia) and two 'old' European countries (Germany and Austria). In the end, seven experts have responded their questions (Czech Republic, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Austria and Germany) and expressed their expectations and difficulties of the development of bioethical discussions and institutionalisations in their countries. The authors summarize in the prologue the most interesting results.
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The article deals with the analysis of specifics of researcher emigration from the post-socialist Central European countries to the USA in the context of the discussion on different approaches to the 'brain drain' phenomenon and its forms. The extent and structure of researcher migration from the Central European countries to the USA are compared to migration from the Western European countries using several data sets. The findings show among others that the intensity of researcher migration from the Central European countries to the USA was higher than from Western European countries in the early 1990s but it decreased significantly afterwards. Brain waste of highly qualified migrants from Central Europe persists.
Poverty research in post-communist Europe has been behind its western counterparts but it is recently catching up. However, research of in-work poverty in the post-communist EU members is still rather scarce. This paper contributes to filling that gap. Using EU-SILC microdata, supplemented by various country-level statistics, this paper has two aims. Firstly, it maps the development of in-work poverty in the post-communist EU and compares it to western countries. Secondly, it identifies factors that may influence the probability of becoming a member of the working poor. Using multilevel regression techniques it reveals that individual factors play a considerably larger role in influencing the In-work Poverty (IWP) than institutions. Additionally, the findings show that there were three institutional barriers which prevented workers from becoming poor before the crisis: parental leave, unemployment benefits and union density. However, these institutions lost their influence during the crisis and still have not restored it after the crisis.
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The study focuses on Central European documentary films which directly suggest the concept of multiculturalism as they take place in an environment of mixed and coexisting cultures and subcultures, living in the geographically divided or frontier areas. The perception of intercultural dialogue in the context of the Central European and in Slovak cinema is largely monologic, facing inward, with strict hierarchy of perceptions of cultural clashes. The dominant culture responds to other cultures from the perspective of power and the presence of minority is regarded as schematic and stereotyped. Therefore, transnational solidarity occurs only rarely. This situation can be attributed to the long period of closure of national and cultural boundaries among the Central European nations with their relationships based only on the common ideology and often treated the cultures of the other ideological block as their enemies. After 1989 and after the emergence of new states, there was an increase of the nationalist passions related to the national consciousness in the early years of nation-building, and since joining the European Union, the native Central European cultures have been taking lessons of how to cope with their own minorities, and respond to new cultures of immigrants, or other previously marginalized groups and collective identities.
Previous research demonstrated that group adherence, which manifests itself by personal and social identity fusion, is related to radical pro-group attitudes and that this relationship is stronger for measures of identity fusion than group identification. A series of four studies (total n = 872) explored whether in different cultural conditions (i.e., in Central Europe) identity fusion is related to attitudes of fighting in order to protect one’s own group and whether that influences the declared tendency to self-sacrifice. Moreover, to extend previous results, the current study tested if fusion is related to sense of control, social approval and self-concept clarity. The results indicate that identity fusion (as measured on a pictorial scale) is linked to radical behaviours operationalized in various ways and to the feeling of self-certainty.
Carpathian obsidian represented one of the most important raw materials in prehistoric times of Central Europe. According to the distribution maps, the Slovakian source (Carpathian 1) played the decisive role not only in Slovakia but in the whole Central Europe as well. The provenance of this obsidian was supposed near the village Viničky at the southern margin of the Zemplínske vrchy Mts. But the natural obsidian from the surroundings of Viničky (no sculpture, polyhedral shape, almost non-translucent glassy mass, dimensions of pieces usually up to 3 – 4 cm) has absolutely different properties comparing the appearance of prevalent part of obsidian artefacts (conspicuous sculpture on relics of original surface, a good translucence, common dimensions of pieces above 6 cm and more). We found the occurrence of such shortly transported and sculptured natural obsidians in lenses of probably deluviofluvial gravels in air-borne sands situated in central to NE parts of the Zemplínske vrchy Mts., i. e. in the surroundings of Brehov. In recent time these deluviofluvial or fluvial rocks with obsidian are probably partly covered by younger flood loams or air-borne sands. Our finding shows the mentioned area with about 6 km2 could be the principal source supporting by obsidian Central and SE Europe from the Middle Palaeolithic.
This article is dedicated to re-examine the problematic of art geography in the era of globalization concentrated on the focus of the new 'postmodern' geographies and the 'spatial turn'. The authoress discusses about the map of art history on the case study of the DuMont's 'Atlas of World Art' (2004), which is the latest attempt to write the global history of art. The era of globalization brought a new idea of the national states without borders. . Social and cultural geographers have been also concerned with the globalization of cultural flows, mostly in relation to transnational migration and to a 'common global culture' as a very problematic concept. The notions of flow, fluidity, fluid spaces instead of a fixed space/place, mobility, deterritorialisation, unbelonging and non-spaces, relational networks as the opposite of natural/constant or absolute/Carthesian spaces demonstrate the axiomatic shift or even the end of traditional social geography. In spite of the Geography of Art developed a long time ago, recently Thomas DaCosta Kaufmann examined the geographical approaches in art history from early antiquity to the present day. This timely and important contribution to art history re-establishes the 'spatial dimensions/turn' of the discipline towards to 'complementary cultural dimension/turn'. From the 'Atlas of World Art' point of view the strategies of representation are limited because they represent the 'Second Europe' as non-urban, underdeveloped or backward. It is actually an empty space without flow. On one hand there is the rhetoric of the 'New Europe' today, Europe without borders or globalized space within which happened that Eastern Europe is on the map, on the other hand there are no visible distinctions - primary features (lack of exoticism mentioned by several occasions) identifying the East European 'Other' (the key word for postcolonial discourse).
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The feast of Ss. Cyril and Methodius belongs to the well-regarded religious and national holidays. The apostles of the Slavs initiated various forms of cultural life, closely connected with that of the church. The legends appearing after the death of Cyril and Methodius testify to a canonized esteem which did not officially exist after the fall of Great Moravia, but found favourable conditions in Bulgaria and the Czech lands. The Cyril-Methodius veneration was restored in Bohemia and Moravia in the 14th century and the first medieval prayers to them were created. The article discusses how the Liturgy of Hours in honour of Ss. Cyril and Methodius has undergone several stages of development until its modern version has been formed.
The entry of 30,000 German soldiers into the demilitarized Rhineland was a violation of the Treaty of Versailles and of the Locarno agreements signed under the aegis of the League of Nations in 1925. The latter were understood as giving some degree of correction to Versailles. They included the Rhine Pact, which internationally guaranteed the inviolability of the French – German and French – Belgian frontiers, and of the demilitarized Rhineland. Locarno could not be unilaterally renounced. Therefore Hitler resorted to force, while the Western powers gave priority to diplomacy and an effort to prove that the Locarno agreements had not lost their legal force. Slovak historiography has not devoted much attention to the Rhineland crisis, although it had an unfortunate impact on the fate of Czechoslovakia and the whole of Central Europe. The study is directed mainly towards French policy. On the basis of research in the diplomatic and military archives, it considers the problem of the struggle between force and law. Law suffered a defeat in Europe in 1936.
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The paper explains the relation between the concepts of socialist realism and magic realism in the Slovak literature during the period of Perestroika occurring in the second half of the 1980s. The author claims that the ideologically biased criticism of the period warned of the increasing interest in magic realism among writers, critics and readers because magic realism was regarded as one of the tools of the “destruction” of socialist realism. Many of the new ideas that overcame the conservative thinking of socialist realism in Czechoslovakia then came from the East, i.e., from the Soviet Union. However, Slovak critics and writers did not just follow theoretical works but also translated works of prose, e.g., those from Ukrainian literature, which had been inspired by reading Latin American prose as well as by the indigenous folk sources and specific cultural situation in the multi-ethnic environment of the Eastern Carpathians. In addition to that, the 1960s saw translations of the “original” magic realism of Latin American provenance penetrating the Slovak cultural space. The individual national literatures from the territory of the Eastern Carpathians have also kept developing upon the inspirations from magic realism of Latin American literature, from the 1990s until now. Selected works of prose from this particular cultural region clearly reflect the phenomena of myth and magic and operate with natural circular time and relatively closed, isolated spaces, and they are strongly influenced by folk oral culture. All of these elements bring the cultural space in question closer to the premises of Latin American magic realism.
The attempts to revive and emulate the early-Christian art undertaken after the Council of Trent, was primarily a kind of monument conservation programme. Such efforts had illustrated the return of the church to its sacred apostolic tradition, with a limited scope to places where the monuments dating back to the first centuries in the history of the Church had been preserved, that is chiefly to Rome and Milan. Therefor the paper is aimed at rare attempts to adopt this trend in Central Europe, e.g. Graz or Lowicz.
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