The current stage of development of studies of Central and Eastern Europe is characterized by a number of specific and common problems for the whole scientific direction. Systemic transformation in ...the states of the region at the turn of the 1980s-1990s led to a decrease in the level of their foreign economic and foreign policy relations with Russia, which influenced the interest in the study and accumulation of knowledge about Central and Eastern Europe in our country. In particular, the demand of state bodies for regular country studies of the region decreased, which affected the publication activity of scientific centers and the training of new scientists by specialized university departments. Central-Eastern Europe ceased to be considered as a separate region as its thirteen states were involved in European integration processes, and the number of scientific institutions and research teams for its study decreased. The disunity of specialists dealing with Eastern European problems and the low level of their scientific interaction leads to the formation of an "archipelago" of research centers. On the basis of open data, we found nine, oft en small, scientific teams for the study of history (from the middle of the 20th century), economy, society, domestic and foreign policy of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe and analyze the results of their activities in 2010-21 (including topics and territorial scope of works). It is worth to note that in the Russian regions, the corresponding research within the framework of research teams is not carried out, they have survived only in Moscow. Such a key characteristic of country studies as complexity is gone – in the conditions of methodological stagnation and in the absence of the possibility of conducting comprehensive country studies, scientists tackle its components separately, and some of them have been abandoned. The predominance of the reductionist approach over the holistic one also applies to geographical coverage: our analysis of the specialization of scientists shows that many countries in the region remain outside the research field, and interest in two or three of them is due to cultural and historical ties and foreign policy agenda. The training of researchers and teachers at the departments of universities is carried out in an insufficient level for personnel renewal, the age of twothirds of the specialists is over 40 years old. In order to assess the prospects for solving this problem, we analyzed the topics of dissertations defended over ten years in 24 Russian universities and academic institutes in history, politics, economics and economic geography of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe.
Why do ethnoculturally defined states pursue favourable policies to integrate some returnees from their historical diasporas while neglecting or excluding others? We study this question by looking at ...members of two historical diasporas that, in the 1990s, returned to their respective ethnic homelands, Greece and Serbia, but were not treated uniformly by their respective governments. Utilising a wide range of primary sources, we consider evidence for a number of plausible explanations for such policy variation, including the economic profile of an ethnic returnee group, its status in internal ethnic hierarchies, its lobbying power, and dynamics of party politics. We find, instead, that the observed variation is best explained by the role that each particular group played in the ruling elites' ex ante foreign policy objectives. Elites discouraged the repatriation of co-ethnics from parts of the world they still had claims over, by pursuing unfavourable repatriation policies. Conversely, absent a revisionist claim, states adopted favourable repatriation policies to encourage their repatriation and facilitate their integration upon return. Methodologically, the article illustrates the importance of focused comparisons across dyads of states and particular sub-diaspora groups.
Since the discovery of calcareous nannofossils, dinoflagellate cysts and planktonic foraminifers in deposits from the Dacic Basin, intensive research has been performed in order to evidence which ...gateway this microplankton used to connect Paratethys and the Mediterranean prior and after the Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC). Such a gateway is also to be regarded at the origin of successive influxes of Paratethyan organisms (molluscs, ostracods, dinoflagellates) into the Mediterranean Basin (“Lago Mare” events). Observing that the İstanbul area, usually proposed for this purpose, was inefficient, we examine the succession of marine well-dated pre-MSC and post-MSC deltaic deposits through the Balkans, from northern Greece to southern Romania, that constitutes a reliable candidate for such a marine corridor, the origin of which was caused by the regional tectonic extension. The reconstructed palaeogeography for high sea level episodes that encompassed the MSC clarifies the context of the so-called North Aegean Lake. This marine gateway probably evolved as a powerful river during the peak of the MSC, contributing to the deposition of clastics in the hydrocarbon Prinos Field. A tectonically controlled subsidence to the north and south of the Skopje region caused the closure of such a gateway.
•A marine gateway crossed the Balkans from 8 to 4Ma at high sea level episodes.•It was at the origin of organism exchanges between the Mediterranean and Paratethys.•During the Messinian Salinity Crisis, it was probably changed into a powerful river.
The development of electronic media and changes of the social context in the situation of the global health crisis in the field of education have resulted in an increased interest in digital ...resources, especially in the application of e-books in teaching. Resorting to this book format raises the question of the perspective of its application in the future changed social circumstances. The authors examine (a) the experiences of students of teacher education and pedagogical faculties (N = 394) from four countries of the Western Balkans regarding the use of digital libraries; (b) the anticipated purpose of using e-books upon the completion of their studies; (c) students’ views on the universal values of books, regardless of the format in which they are published. The attitudes of these students regarding the future application of e-books is determined by their open-mindedness relative to the application of modern technologies for educational purposes, experience in using e-books, their views on the purpose of the future application of this type of books, and values regarding different book formats and books in general. The research findings show that future preschool and primary school teachers are characterized by the values that qualify them for an adequate approach to the outcomes of future changes in the development of books and modern education.
Despite not being a new phenomenon, nor an Islamic specificum, only recently when the West has increasingly become a potential target of returning foreign fighters from the Syrian theater has the ...international community reacted. The UN Security Council called on Member-states to, inter alia, immediately amend their national legislation to criminalize travelling abroad for terrorist purposes. However, as I identify in this article, contrary to majority of the Western countries, the Western Balkan countries opted to amend their legislation to criminalize travelling abroad to join conflict irrespective of its connection with terrorism, going well beyond the intended aim of the Security Council's resolutions. I argue that this broader criminal law approach is difficult to justify from either preventive or reactive perspectives. It is, in fact, an anxious and ineffective response to foreign fighters phenomenon. It is anxious because existing data shows that countries from the region have suffered fewer extremist attacks than the West. Notwithstanding, they still decided to introduce far more aggressive legislative changes, even though it only amplified securitizing moves performed by fighters' recruiters. I further demonstrate that the implementation of this new legislation has been ineffective particularly due to: (1) the challenge of securing court-strong evidence, especially those gathered through international intelligence cooperation; (2) its application mainly as an alternative when other terrorism-related offences cannot be proved; and (3) biased law application in countries that have returning fighters from both Middle East and Ukraine.
The important role of the Balkans in the origin and development of metallurgy
is well established with respect to copper. In addition, Aleksandar Durman,
in his 1997 paper ?Tin in South-eastern ...Europe??, essentially initiated
studies into the role of the Balkans in Europe?s Bronze Age tin economy. He
identified six geologically favourable sites for tin mineralisation and
associated fluvial placer deposits in the former Yugoslavian republics, and
suggested that these may have added to the tin supply of the region. The
viability of two of these sites has been confirmed (Mt Cer and Bukulja,
Serbia) but the exploitation potential for the other locations has remained
untested. River gravels from these four sites (Motajica and Prosara in
Bosnia and Herzegovina; Bujanovac in Serbia; Ograzden in North Macedonia)
were obtained by stream sluicing and panning. The sites of Prosara and
Bujanovac were found to be barren with respect to cassiterite (SnO2).
Streams flowing from Motajica and Ograzden were both found to contain
cassiterite, but in amounts several orders of magnitude less than at Mt Cer
and Bukulja. Although it is possible that minor tin recovery occurred at
Motajica and Ograzden, it is unlikely that they could have contributed
meaningfully to regional tin trade. This is supported by the fact that the
isotopic signature (?124Sn) of cassiterite from Motajica is highly enriched
in light isotopes of tin compared to that associated with Late Bronze Age
artefacts of the region.
The beginnings of extractive metallurgy in Eurasia are contentious. The first cast copper objects in this region emerge c. 7000 years ago, and their production has been tentatively linked to centres ...in the Near East. This assumption, however, is not substantiated by evidence for copper smelting in those centres. Here, we present results from recent excavations from Belovode, a Vinča culture site in Eastern Serbia, which has provided the earliest direct evidence for copper smelting to date. The earliest copper smelting activities there took place c. 7000 years ago, contemporary with the emergence of the first cast copper objects. Through optical, chemical and provenance analyses of copper slag, minerals, ores and artefacts, we demonstrate the presence of an established metallurgical technology during this period, exploiting multiple sources for raw materials. These results extend the known record of copper smelting by more than half a millennium, with substantial implications. Extractive metallurgy occurs at a location far away from the Near East, challenging the traditional model of a single origin of metallurgy and reviving the possibility of multiple, independent inventions.
Detailed knowledge about the interactions between vegetation, climate and land use during the Mesolithic and Neolithic, at the transition from foraging to farming, is still scarce in the Balkans. ...Here we present a palaeoecological study combining pollen, spores and charcoal found in sedimentary cores from Lake Ohrid, Ploča Mičov Grad, North Macedonia, with a particular focus on the vegetation dynamics during the Late Glacial-Holocene and the Mesolithic-Neolithic transitions. Our record begins at ca. 13,500 cal
bp
(11,550 cal
bc
) when partially open vegetation, consisting mainly of
Pinus
,
Abies
and deciduous
Quercus
tree stands grew on the hilly flanks of the bay of Ploča. From 12,650 cal
bp
(cal 10,700
bc
), herbs dominated the record until the onset of the Holocene (ca. 11,700 cal
bp
; 9750 cal
bc
), when increasing temperatures led to the establishment of pine-deciduous oak forests including
Alnus
,
Fraxinus ornus
,
Tilia
,
Ulmus
and
Abies
. These forests persisted until 7,500 cal
bp
(cal 5550
bc
), when deforestation started due to Neolithic land use. This first phase of Neolithic activities in the Ploča Mičov Grad area precedes the earliest archaeological structures so far recorded by almost 1,000 years. Our data suggest two phases of human land use between 7,500 and 6,300 cal
bp
(5550–4350 cal
bc
), when high values of Cerealia type pollen and other cultural indicators indicate intense arable and pastoral farming activities. Once human activities decreased, forests were able to re-establish quickly (within 100–250 years), although the composition changed with disturbance-adapted
Ostrya
type (mostly
Ostrya carpinifolia
) and
Fagus
becoming more important. We conclude that forests were resilient to early human disturbance, despite intensive land use and logging activities gradually leading to forest composition changes. Many of these composition changes can still be seen today, suggesting the legacy of Neolithic farmers is still present in today’s landscape.
The paper argues that the Balkans are not a single-type cultural- political and conflictogenic space where religions are the basic factor, but a heterogeneous zone made up of specific states, in each ...of which religion or religions have a specific positive cultural status and/or conflict potential (persistently or in certain period). The qualitative changes that have taken place in Christianity as a faith and an institution, both in the West and East (including the Balkans) during the second half of the 20th century have shown that Christianity has become more dependent on and responsive to the fundamental cultural specificity of each particular society in which it exists. The thesis is emphasized that in the conflictual configuration of “Other” in the Balkans (of ethnic, nationalist, cultural type) religion is not a pro-active factor but functions in interacting with a number of other factors (the Weberian idea of religious “strands”), coming to the fore in certain situations.
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