The horror genre is rarely used in a literary settlement with the period of Second World War. That is because horror is generally treated as a genre serving unrefined entertainment, which depends on showing the extreme anomalies and violating the cultural taboos. Aesthetical and axiological controversies aroused by the horror make this genre unsuitable for description of the very serious subject of war and occupation. The martyrologic and patriotic interpretation of this subject is usually meant to be the only proper one. Two Czech horrors break off this literary stereotype: Ladislav Fuks’s The Cremator (1967) and Jan Pelc’s ...and you can’t do that to me (1993). Their authors belong to different generations and they take different topics: holocaust and guerrilla warfare. However they have similar interest for human pathology, which intensifies under the influence of experience of collective violence. Both authors use the horror genre for demythologization of the martyrologic and patriotic picture of war and occupation. They prove that the horror can realize the literary ambitious settlement with the period of Second World War, because it helps to emphasise the element of irrational cruelty involved in the war and occupation experience.
The article undertakes a polemological reflection which is not limited to historiography and philosophy of history, being an attempt at reaching multidimensional and non-standard vision of war. It may seem that studying a computer simulation of people’s lives during the war conflict is far from what a literary scholar should be doing. Nevertheless, This War of Mine redefines the notion of computer games and of classically defined agon. The interactive production of Warsaw 11 bit studios becomes a pretext for studying the ways in which new media refer to literature. The unique experience of war depicted by This War of Mine draws from literary testimonies but at the same time it captures more than literature could ever do. Is the “word in play” the missing link of Bachtin’s equation?
In the article a terrorism was shown in three aspects: military, economic and social. Two models of the fight: dynamic and mechanical were related to contemporary conflicts. According to authors of this article, the terrorism is a derivative phenomenon of the war. It is a main reason why we used the mechanical model of the fight to describe the contemporary conflicts.
In her analysis of Kazimierz Brandys’s novels the author focuses on war and wartime as experience and “non-experience” in the perspective of Polish heroic myth and anti-civilian paradigm. In Polish culture romantic and heroic paradigm has substantial influence on the form of masculinity. Experience in this article is a metaphor, which includes participation in a war as a soldier. “Non-experience” in this perspective situates men on the margins of heroic culture. It further shows limitations of heroic culture and revises heroic tradition.
Contemporary terrorism is one of the most serious threats to the world today. Since the second half of the 20th century it has evolved, adapting its aspirations, needs and capabilities to the scientific, technological and informational development of the world today as well as the geopolitical situation and specifi city. Thus contemporary terrorism is a dynamic process and rarely, or increasingly rarely, a state that remains unchanged. The essence of terrorism today lies the fact that it is commonly regarded as a threat not only to national security (security within one state) but, above all, to international security in view of the globalisation of terrorism. Contemporary terrorism has four basic features. First of all, it is inspired by religion. Secondly, the perpetrators do not reveal their identity, remaining in hiding and preparing new attacks. Thirdly, the actions of terrorists are much more deadly than ever before and, finally, terrorism is global. In addition, terrorism today is linked to actions focused on producing victims on a mass scale. This may suggest a development of genocidal terrorism which will be particularly evident in any future ethnic conflicts. A permanent characteristic feature of terrorism, including contemporary terrorism, is its objectives: to attract attention, generate publicity, justify its actions, win social consent and, finally, seize power. Preventing and combating contemporary terrorism requires not only the work of institution and agencies established for that purpose, but also responsible functioning of every individual in society. Thus creating security today requires collaboration of all people.
Eros and Tanatos in the prose of Miodrag Bulatovic. The focus of this article is on an exploration of the various forms of degenerate eroticism present in the prose of Miodrag Bulatovic. Attention is drawn to the festive and orgiastic character of war (Hero on the Donkey, The War was Better), licentious erotica in the libertine spirit (Gullo Gullo), and also the phenomenon of hyperactive sexuality with a phobic substrata (People with Four Fingers). The theory of transgressive eroticism, present in the works of Georges Bataille, Pascal Quinard and Elisabeth Roudinesco, is also applied. Concepts from the field of humanistic psychiatry, the American school of neopsychoanalysis, Roger Caillois’ conclusions on the orgiastic nature of armed conflict, elements of the Marquis de Sade’s philosophy, as well as definitions of sexual deviations utilized in sexology and sexual psychology jointly form the methodological basis of the presentation.
Contrary to popular expectations, armed conflicts persisted after the end of World War II. Some countries are fighting for independence, others for influence, and others are experiencing civil wars. This is determined by cultural, ethnic and religious differences. The modern world is tormented by many conflicts which, despite their regional scope, have an impact on the political and military situation on the entire globe. The functioning of formal borders that do not coincide with national borders, the low sense of nationality compared to ethnicity, poverty and political instability are also conducive to the use of terrorist methods. Terrorism is almost as old as civilisation. However, unlike in the past, today’s terrorists use violence on an unprecedented scale. Terrorism in many cases shows its regional specificity, varying according to the cultural and civilisation area in which it occurs. Reasons for resorting to terrorist methods may be a need for freedom, protection of one’s heritage, sense of harm done by the occupier, a need to express dissatisfaction with the political system or changes being made, or, finally, a mere desire to draw attention to the problems of countries and societies that have not yet been noticed or have been ignored by public opinion. Religion is also a frequent reason for resorting to terrorism. Contemporary terrorism is represented mainly by extremist Islamic fundamentalism and is based on the clash of two cultures. It is a global threat, and anyone can become its potential victim today. Numerous signals of the emergence of new, hitherto unknown organisations prove that in the future, unfortunately, the escalation of the phenomenon will have to be taken into account.
Historical memory can be divided into three main levels: collective (national), mass and individual. The ratio between them can be different: the same, overlap or contradicting each other. So when forming the collective historical memory should be made of the three main factors: political order, their own interests’ agents, the desire not to offend or not to initiate an active disagreement from those who have personal experience that has formed an opinion on this period, or event. Memory is expressed in signs and symbols, affecting both the mind and the subconscious mind; it constantly recharges sense of national identity, loyalty lifestyle and righteous actions. The history of society during war clearly identifies basic principles of nature as an individual and society as a whole. The military component is one of the most accurate tests of justice and legality, correctness of life as individuals, social groups and the whole society. Therefore, the study of the formation of national memory, using military experience, allows high accuracy to determine the major features of mentality. For the history of formation of the memory of the American society, exactly the Vietnam War can be called the most striking example of the use of memory about it to prove its creditability.
The Author reconstructs the notion of the so‑called permitted war conducted by ancient Israel and described in the Old Testament. He argues that it differs considerably from the idea of holly war (YHWH war) presented at the time of the Israel conquest of the Promised Land. To prove that, he refers to the principles of permitted war stated in the Book of Deuteronomy. They included the beginning of war, the role of the priests, the duty of military service, the rules of besieging cities, and the treatment of conquered population. Moreover, he compares these principles with the war practices of other ancient nations in the Near East. As the case study, he considers the Maccabean Wars which constituted the only historically verified example of ancient Israeli military efforts. He claims that it was them that were conducted according the rules prescribed for permitted wars. At the same time, they exhibited some religious elements to be found later on in the holly wars of medieval Christianity.
The topic of the article is writings by Ida Fink. It analyses stories of the author of Wiosna 1941 (The Spring 1941) which refer to the Holocaust. The analysis also draws attention to the poetics of “discreet horror” in which Ida Fink’s stories are embedded. In her records the author does not underline the cruelty, but shows the terror of the situation by subtle narrative and compositional manoeuvres. The picture of death is de-emphasised by the psychology of characters, and the main focus are complicated human relationships in which the author with a great delicacy presents various emotional states of people who, despite being sentenced to death, still try to survive the war. Ida Fink’s stories are different from the majority of Holocaust literature which exposes the severity and brutality of mass death. These stories stand out as an exceptional phenomenon among works by such authors as Tadeusz Borowski, Zofia Nałkowska, Leon Buczkowski, Henryk Grynberg or Bogdan Wojdowski.
For centuries, conducting war was regarded as one of the most important attributes of state sovereignty. With the development of international relations, technology and human capabilities, which repeatedly led the fate of humanity to the end, the approach to the conduct of war as foreign policy began to evolve into a pacifist outlook. The achievement of the moment of 1928 was when the Brianda-Kellog Pact was for the first time enacted, and an absolute prohibition of aggressive warfare was preceded by stages in which the states formed, in small steps, the awareness of the need to change their approach to war. The very fact of introducing its prohibition did not save the world from the outbreakof World War II, but it allowed the prosecution of war criminals, and forever changed the approach to war. Since then, although the world is not free from armed conflict, the states resorting to the use of force must find a justification for their actions on the basis of norms of international law
In the article the social and economic transformation of Afghanistan is examined in a historical perspective. The author notices that Afghanistan's trajectory of development, since the modernization of the country began in the 19th century, has eventually produced the state of so-called 'Dutch disease', that is, a relationship between the increase in exploitation of natural resources and a demise of the manufacturing sector. In the Afghani case, the natural resources' responsible for halting industrialization are narcotics (opium), on the global exports of which the entire local economy became strictly dependent. The author names number of reasons behind such a direction of development, including political, economic, an cultural factors but remains skeptical about possible ways out of that developmental trap.
This article is primarily focused on possible reactions to the global phenomenon of terrorism. It proposes some possibilities of making our reactions right, just and defendable. Different types of pacifism as one of the options towards treating the issue of terrorism are presented as well. The paper is a presentation of the just war theory as one of the well known theory often used the context of violence, war and terrorism. The aim is to answer some fundamental questions and issues and possibly raise further and deeper research in the very complex phenomenon of terrorism and its various interpretations, forms as well as consequences that follow.
As early as at the beginning of the last century, the Polish-Jewish educator, children›s author, and pedagogue Janusz Korczak called for the right of child to happy childhood. This revelatory vision was accompanied by Hellen Key, who proclaimed 20th century as the century of the child, publishing book of such title and calling for the rights of children to free growth. Unfortunately, the history of the modern world added to these humane ideas rather pessimistic post scriptum, involving children in the armed conflicts and totalitarian regimes, making them the victims of adult cruelty to an unimaginable extend. In such context, the “War Childhood” book provides a very important and exceptional pedagogical and sociological study, for it induces readers to ponder over the position and status of children in armed conflicts, with the biographical, psychological and social repercussion of the latter.
The following article tries to reconstruct a primary and ?live? connection existing between a war campaign (which, after all, is also a journey) and a desire to see something that is worth it or attractive. There are some similarities between a soldier who brings spoils of war when he comes back from a military expedition and a Greek wanderer (tourist) who is armed in sword or at least a knife and comes back home with some souvenirs. We can find the sources of associations between a war and a journey in the Hellenes? mentality who did not separate war from other fields of life ? religion, philosophy, sport (agon) and also journeys made for pleasure and to gain knowledge. For long time in Greek mind there was no category where soldiers could function as a separate professional and social group. Though the Greeks basically combined an excursion, especially a military one, with some difficulties, at the same time they could notice some charm in it. It is proven by literary works, which mention a desire to see a distant country, created by writers who were mercenaries in foreign armies at the same time. Numerous testimonies of military leaders and ordinary warriors and other military tales about attractions seen during an excursion, soldiers? graffiti that can be found in distant countries, as well as different souvenirs brought from expeditions are also the evidence. It seems that Hellenic soldiers-travellers fall into category of ?military tourism? attributed to ?cultural tourism?. In ancient Greece military expeditions were also travels for knowledge and pleasure.
The research focuses on a phenomenon with a political, cultural and sociological nature – war. One purpose of my research is to link this phenomenon with the economy. The wider purpose is to raise political science and sociology to a higher level of analysis with the aim of reducing and unifying the social sciences to a stricter level of analysis. This research objective uses the example of war, and enlists mathematical instruments associated not only with the business cycle. Tests are performed on the example of the U.S. business cycle and that country’s military activity. The research shows the reciprocal relationship of these events, the state of the U.S. economy, determined by variations in the parameters of the national income and related to a growing propensity for military activity, which in turn, as the research shows, reduces the number of wars on a global scale. Other aspects of the paper include a description of the history of the research process, the phenomenon of war and issues and problems from the philosophy of science.
Mental health is defined as a state of well-being in which every individual realizes his/her own potential, can cope with the normal stress of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his/her community (World Health Organization, 2004). War and disasters have the greatest impact on mental health and psychosocial well-being. A considerable number of child refugees enter Europe to seek refuge from ongoing conflict and war in their home countries. Refugee children are at greater risk of psychological distress than non-refugee children and they may develop symptoms such as depression, PTSD, anxiety, physical problems or become aggressive. Trauma can impact the children’s physical well-being, cognitive development and psychological/emotional well-being and behavior. Therefore, these children are identified as having unique; however, urgent mental health needs requiring timely interventions. According to these findings, in this article the author is trying to explain the mental health problems and interventions among two refugee children (brother and sister) who stayed in the Transit Centre “Vinojug” in Gevgelija, Republic of Macedonia, two years ago. They had significant psychological disturbances such as depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, because they lost their home and their father. They have been here only with their pregnant mother. At the beginning they needed individual psychiatric or psychological support, but later also group psycho-social support. Verbal, art and game-based interventions proved effective in reducing the PTSD symptoms and depression. After that, the children showed positive emotions such as gratitude, hope, happiness, and optimism. At the same time they started to attend the local school and the first words in Macedonian language were: “Hello, how are you?” They have already learned the Macedonian language and counted in Macedonian; they knew how to ask for water and learned the basic terms. Hence, when they left the Transit Center with their mother, they were very sad: “Here we have many new friends who help and love us”. Our study provides a strong evidence base regarding the use of verbal and clinical interventions for PTSD and emotional and behavioral difficulties, respectively. Also, the main goal of the psychological workshop is stimulation of the copy strategies, resilience and psychosocial development through structured playful activities such as voice, movement, painting, drawing, song, sound.
The purpose of this article is to present English participation in the war between France and the Habsburg Monarchy during the reign of Mary I. The queen's husband was Filip Habsburg, son of Emperor Charles V, and it was he who persuaded the English Secret Council to participate in the conflict. This war proved to have catastrophic consequences for England, due to the loss of Calais by the country of Mary I.
Based on the analysis of the armed conflict in Mali, it can be concluded that terrorist organizations, despite differences, are able to cooperate with each other very well and threaten the existence of entire countries. Negotiating with terrorists only strengthens their sense of power. Regional international organizations, such as ECOWAS, without real armed forces, ready for immediate use, are useless in quickly and effectively solving armed conflicts. Also the UN is not a very effective organization in solving armed conflicts, it only provides the legal basis for the effective use of troops by other states. In Africa, the fear of military attacks is causing African countries' reluctance to strengthen the armed forces, which leads to the inability to deal with challenges such as the conflict in Mali on their own. The use of mobile maneuvering units, using air support and reconnaissance information, gives excellent results in the fight against terrorist organizations.
JavaScript is turned off in your web browser. Turn it on to take full advantage of this site, then refresh the page.