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Srl | Item |
1 |
ID:
084497
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2 |
ID:
074886
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Publication |
2006.
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Summary/Abstract |
Disputes about Czech history are often contestations between different contemporary political projects. Their success or failure has an impact on the Czech national identity. This article shows how the Velvet Revolution of 1989 reinforced the traditional self-perception of Czechs as a cultured, democratic and peaceful nation that can deal with conflicts in a civilized manner. The limitations of this nationalist myth are discussed, as is their impact on current political agendas.
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3 |
ID:
141278
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Summary/Abstract |
The protracted crisis in Ukraine has exposed fundamental political differences between leaders in western Europe and their counterparts in Russia. The very existence of the European Union was meant to have refuted geopolitics as a useful theoretical lens through which to view power relations in Europe. After all, the European project is based on the idea that boundaries no longer matter and that national sovereignty is obsolete. And yet, geopolitics remains critically important—certainly for Europe's potential enemies, but also for Europe itself. It is poignant that to advance our understanding of this new constellation we are well served to turn to the insights of a classic, if hugely controversial, German political thinker: Carl Schmitt. Schmitt's political philosophy is relevant in three aspects. First, as a source of inspiration—even if only indirectly—for the contemporary Russian political establishment. Second, the behaviour of Putin's Russia, particularly since 2008, can be best understood through some of the key concepts that preoccupied Schmitt: sovereignty, the political and geopolitics. Third, Schmitt's philosophy can serve as a point of departure for reflecting on the possibility of a more robust response by Europe to the Russian intervention in Ukraine. What Europe needs is a more hard-nosed realist approach, which recognizes that Russia's expansionist ambitions can only be constrained by its own readiness and willingness to deploy power both politically and, if necessary, even militarily.
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4 |
ID:
191731
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Summary/Abstract |
Law is central to what the European Union is and how it works, but the mismatch between the legal and political dimensions of European integration is undermining the EU from within and limiting its ability to project its power beyond its borders. This article aims to explicate the clash between Europe as a community of law, on the one hand, and Europe as a political project, on the other, by focusing on two crises. The first is the crisis that has arisen in relation to Poland's backsliding when it comes to democracy and the rule of law. The second crisis is the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The two crises are interlinked. An effective response to Russian aggression requires of the EU the kind of solidarity, confidence and unity of purpose that has been undercut by Poland's rule-of-law crisis and by the inadequacy of European responses to it. Thus, both crises unsettle the EU's constitutional settlement, revealing the political limits of legal integration. We find that, if Europe's leaders are to better align the EU's legal order with its political goals and capacity to act, then they will need to acknowledge, and work within, the constraints the EU faces as a union of nation states.
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