The Balkans is considered a vital area in international relations. It has always attracted and is still attracting the interest of global and regional powers and factors on the international stage, ...including Turkey. Besides the political, economic, and defense aspects, the soft power of Turkish multidimensional diplomacy represents one of the most important segments of the relations between Turkey and the Balkan countries. Turkish government institutions like the Diyanet (Presidency of Religious Affairs), Yunus Emre, Presidency for Turks Abroad and Related Communities (YTB), TIKA, Turkish State Media, Maarif education institutions, and various non-governmental organizations represent some of the most vital segments of the cultural, religious and educational expansion of the Turkish state in the Balkan countries. This paper is mainly based on the following research methods: historical, descriptive, and in-depth analysis. This study aims to answer the main question of this research - Do the above-mentioned soft power policy tools play a vital role in the further development of Turkey-Balkan countries relations? This paper concludes that the Turkish soft power policy in the Balkans faces a series of challenges that affect its expansion's functionality and success.
During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, American Protestant missionaries attempted to export their religious beliefs and cultural ideals to the Ottoman Empire. Seeking to attract ...Orthodox Christians and even Muslims to their faith, they promoted the paradigm of the “Christian home” as the foundation of national progress. Yet the missionaries’ efforts not only failed to win many converts but also produced some unexpected results. Drawing on a broad range of sources—Ottoman, Bulgarian, Russian, French, and English—Barbara ReevesEllington tracks the transnational history of this littleknown episode of American cultural expansion. She shows how issues of gender and race influenced the missionaries’ efforts as well as the complex responses of Ottoman subjects to American intrusions into their everyday lives. Women missionaries—married and single—employed the language of Christian domesticity and female moral authority to challenge the maledominated hierarchy of missionary society and to forge bonds of feminist internationalism. At the same time, Orthodox Christians adapted the missionaries’ ideology to their own purposes in developing a new strain of nationalism that undermined Ottoman efforts to stem growing sectarianism within their empire. By the beginning of the twentieth century, as some missionaries began to promote international understanding rather than Protestantism, they also paved the way for future expansion of American political and commercial interests.
Although population history and dispersal are back at the forefront of the archaeological agenda, they are often studied in relative isolation. This contribution aims at combining both dimensions, as ...population dispersal is, by definition, a demographic process. Using a case study drawn from the Early Neolithic of South-Eastern Europe, we use radiocarbon dates to jointly investigate changes in speed and population size linked to the new food production economy and demonstrate that the spread of farming in this region corresponds to a density-dependent dispersal process. The implications of this characterization are evaluated in the discussion. This article is part of the theme issue 'Cross-disciplinary approaches to prehistoric demography'.
Theophilea subcylindricollis Hladil, 1988 was recorded for the second time in Bulgaria. A single male specimen was found on 7 May 2023 in Vinarovo Village, Vidin Province, Northwestern Bulgaria. ...Photos of the specimen ex situ are presented.
The Western Balkans countries have the aim to become part of the European Union. According to that aim, they have implemented economic and systemic reforms in the last three decades. As countries in ...the region are signatories to the Energy Community Treaty, they have committed themselves to harmonize legislation, define and implement national plans aimed at reducing carbon emissions, improving energy efficiency and increasing the use of renewable energy sources. Having in mind their commitment, the aim of this paper is to determine the progress in the process of economic development, i.e. to define the chances and limitations to implement the process of energy transition. The results of the research show that despite the started reform processes and the progress in the Human Development Index, the COVID-19 crisis slowed down the development of the region and led not only to recession and falling living standards, but also to rising unemployment. In addition, a great challenge for the region is the reduction of energy and carbon intensity because the structure of the power industry is dominated by coal-fired power plants that are outdated and inefficient. The region lacks investment and consistency in implementing ongoing reforms. The Green Agenda for the Western Balkans represents a chance for the region, because through the Instruments of Cross-Border Cooperation, it encourages investments in projects that not only enable energy transition, but also the development of other sectors of industry and agriculture.
This paper aims to discuss the current situation on GRB as a tool to make budgets gender-responsive and achieve gender equality in Western Balkans. Apart from exploring the gap between the aspiration ...in implementing the GRB instruments and tools from one side and the obstacles encountered which are bound to be specific for any country or region. The general method used is the conceptual analyses as well as content analyses will be starting points when scrutinizing policy-papers that policymakers as well as programs of UN, UN Woman, EU and other foreign agencies are trying to implement in WB. Despite numerous gender policies having been adopted in Western Balkans over the last few decades, significant gender inequalities are persisting and there are gender policy implementation gaps. The paper concludes that there is a need to have sound laws and policies that meet the equivalent demand to implement them. Integrated GRB initiatives with gender equality goals could provide the basis for better gender equality outcomes and ownership from the central and local government administration, which is crucial in the long term and sustainable gender equality.
The article examines the results of December EU-Western Balkans Summit and the EU strategy concerning EU – Western Balkans integration. It notes that the summit became a new step in realization of ...the EU integration strategy in relation to the Western Balkans states. At this stage the strategy is focused on strengthening its political and economic influence in the region and on alignment of the Western Balkans states with the priorities of the EU common security and defense policy, including on the questions of the Ukrainian conflict and related sanctions. At the same time the EU integration strategy creates incentives aimed at realization of necessary reforms in the region with the purpose of strengthening internal stability in the region and prevention of potential conflicts inside of the Western Balkans states as well as among them and first of all between Serbia and Kosovo. The author analyzes the main conflicts in the region which negatively affect stability and security in the Western Balkans and the integration process in general. Special attention is devoted to the escalation of conflict between Serbia and Kosovo which could create serious threat to stability in the region and jeopardize the integration process itself as well as the EU mediation efforts aimed at normalization of relationships between Serbia and Kosovo. The author considers that further EU strategy would be developed on two parallel tracks – acceleration of integration process with the Western Balkans states and increasing effectiveness of the EU mediation mission aimed at achieving comprehensive agreement on normalization of relations between Serbia and Kosovo.
This paper analyses the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the labour markets of the Western Balkans. In 2020, the pandemic brought the recent growth of the region’s economies to an abrupt if ...temporary halt, and the paper analyses the impact on activity rates and unemployment rates. The analysis reveals that youth and women, and particularly young women, have been the most severely affected by the crisis. In almost all countries the activity rates of young women have fallen by more than male workers or older workers, while female unemployment rates have simultaneously increased, delivering a double setback for gender equality on the labour market. The paper concludes that future labour market policies should prioritise active labour market policies for the affected young women to assist their return to work through female-friendly training programmes and specialised support for job search and other gender-appropriate policy measures. The capacities of the public employment services in the region will need to be improved to implement targeted and effective active employment policies to support the post-COVID recovery.
In the Western Balkans, two initiatives currently stand out and, in a way, compete: the Berlin Process and Open Balkans. Both initiatives emphasise the European perspective and the strengthening of ...regional cooperation. On the one hand, for most countries in the region, the prospect of joining the European Union seems too distant, uncertain, and fraught with many obstacles. On the other hand, regional cooperation is gaining momentum, with numerous agreements recently reached. But, so far, some Western Balkans countries have been unwilling to participate in the Open Balkans. The paper analyses the real capabilities of these two initiatives, both in terms of creating opportunities for the countries of the Western Balkans to come closer to the postulates of the European Union and progress on the path of joining it, as well as in terms of strengthening and facilitating regional cooperation between the respective countries. For that purpose, the authors used content and comparative analysis. The authors conclude that although both initiatives are hybrid, i.e., both contain political and economic interests, they will not significantly contribute to faster integration into the European Union or stronger regional integration or, in the last case, to the process of resolving existing disputes between countries.
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