Reenacting ethnic cleansing: people's history and elitist nationalism in contemporary Poland

This article addresses the problem of the present‐day historical discourse in Poland by taking under scrutiny one specific event: the historical re‐enactment of the ethnic cleansing of Polish villagers by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, staged in a small town in southeastern Poland, Radymno, in the summer of 2013. It is based on research, carried out by the author and a group of students in Radymno and its surroundings in the period preceding and following the performance, as well as on content analysis of the press. The comparison of the top‐down political and mass media discourse with local responses to the idea of re‐enactment and, more broadly, local understandings of Polish–Ukrainian relations, reveal many contradictions. In attempting to understand them, the article discusses broader ramifications of the ‘democratization of history’: the political contestation, class rhetoric and societal tensions that are tangled up in historical debates.     

一部研究当代中国政党制度的力作--读《当代中国的多党合作制度》

中国共产党领导的多党合作制度,是在长期的革命、建设和改革的实践中逐步形成和发展起来的具有中国特色的社会主义政党制度.研究和分析这一政党制度的形成和发展过程,总结多党合作实践的经验教训,探讨其中的规律,对于进一步推进多党合作的制度化、规范化和程序化建设,发展社会主义民主政治,推进社会主义政治文明建设,有着十分重要的意义.最近,吴美华教授的新著《当代中国的多党合作制度》[1]正是多年研究这一课题的力作.该书作为中国人民大学马克思主义学院中共党史系承担的教育部"211工程"项目"当代社会主义理论与实践"的系列成果之一,运用马克思主义立场、观点和方法,全面而系统地阐述了当代中国的多党合作制度.具体来讲,该书具有以下几个特点.     

Cavafy in Poland

Abstract

Despite the diversity of Modern Greek poetry available in Polish translation, Cavafy's work has eclipsed the achievements of other poets, just as the shadow of his lifelong translator, Zygmunt Kubiak, has inhibited other attempts only starting to surface in the twenty-first century. While external factors have determined Modern Greek anthologies in Poland, Cavafy translation has been mostly driven by personal passion. Apart from translation, this article reflects on various reasons why the Alexandrian's work should be so attractive to the Polish literary scene. Cavafy's seminal place within Polish literature stimulates further reflection on rewriting Cavafy in Poland.     

Sub-fossil wood from the Rucianka raised bog (NE Poland) as an indicator of climatic changes in the first millennium BC

The dendrochronological studies were carried out on very well preserved sub-fossil pine wood found in the biogenic deposits of the Rucianka raised bog (NE Poland). Local floating chronologies, covering the period 990-460 cal BC, were dated on the basis of radiocarbon analyses. Growth depressions in annual treering widths indicated periodical deterioration of the environmental conditions, which affected tree growth. Identified germination and dying-off phases (GDO) should be related to the wetter climatic periods. The extinction of trees took place during periods of higher groundwater level which, in turn, caused favourable conditions for growth of young pines.     

Caesium-137 as an indicator of geomorphic processes in a drainage basin system

Caesium-137 from fallout from nuclear weapons tests is adsorbed on fine sediments and becomes an effective tracer. It is hypothesised that within a drainage basin, sites undergoing little or no erosion accumulate ¹³⁷ Cs in their upper layers; cultivated soils will have ¹³⁷ Cs uniformly distributed within the cultivated layer; eroded soils, cultivated or not, will have relatively less ^l37 Cs, depending on the severity of erosion. Accumulated sediments will have characteristic ¹³⁷ Cs profiles reflecting temporal fallout variations and sedimentation history. This hypothetical model is largely confirmed by results from Maluna Creek basin, where erosion and accumulation of sediments has taken place. Soils under viticulture have about one third the ¹³⁷ Cs content of soils with grass cover, indicating more severe erosion under cultivation. Caesium-137 profiles in alluvial fan and flood plain deposits correlate with sediment layers and known cultivation history.     

Charcot in contemporary literature

Charcot and his medical observations remain an enduring topic of scientific study in neurology, but he is also the topic of modern literary works. This essay examines the depiction of Jean-Martin Charcot (1825-1893) as a character in late-twentieth-century literature as an index of the contemporary nonmedical literary public's interest in neurology and Charcot. It focuses on three contemporary works that involve Charcot as a central figure with comparison between primary source documents and the rendered context, character development, and plot lines of these literary works. The two French novels [Slumbers of Indiscretion and Dr. Charcot of the Salpêtrière] and one American play [Augustine (Big Hysteria)] approach Charcot and neurology with differing levels of historical accuracy. All create a figure of authority, each with a different coloration of the balance between power and its abuse. Two focus almost exclusively on his work with hysteria and inaccurately amplify Charcot's concern with symbolic sexual conflict as the origin of hysteria and fictionalize more extensive interactions with Freud than historical documents support. The three works demonstrate that Charcot retains an enduring fascination with an enigmatic personality, a controversial career, and a pivotal role in the development of studies involving the brain and behavior. Neurologists should not look to these works as replacements for more seriously composed historical studies, but as enrichments anchored in the imaginative possibilities of Charcot and his fin de siècle era.     

General housing characteristics of Poland

Poland has a relatively higher proportion of households as compared to number of housing units available. The distortions in housing stock have increased in Poland since the 1960s and 1970s as deficits remained very high and the demand increased in Poland while other socialist nations of eastern Europe reduced their housing deficits. Housing is important irrespective of the economic system of the country, whether socialist or non‐socialist In a socialist economy, housing is heavily subsidized to meet the minimal requirements of all the people. Though the expressed policy of the socialist country is to minimize the differences between the rural and urban areas there are still basic socio‐economic differences in existence between the rural and urban housing stock. This study found that there were distinct differences between the different macro‐regions: the buildings varied in their age, condition, uses and composition. In Warsaw or Central Poland, roofs are constructed of tar boards and the buildings are used for subsidiary uses. In the eastern and southern regions of Poland, it was found that the majority of buildings are used as single‐family buildings. Many of the dwellings in the south are single family, with roofs constructed of tin plate and sheet metal. The walls of the buildings in this area were constructed of logs and boards. Endemic to the north‐western portion of Poland are roofs constructed of tile. Many of the characteristics found within the regions of Poland stem from the cultural influences.     

Mapping contemporary Catholic politics in Italy

This editors’ introduction opens a special issue of the Journal of Modern Italian Studies on the topic of ‘Mapping Contemporary Catholic Politics in Italy’. It briefly identifies the political, sociological and ideational changes that have occurred in Catholic politics since the collapse of the Democrazia Cristiana party, and introduces the contributions to the special issue, highlighting the common threads and the important divergences in their analyses.     

Security and alienation in contemporary China

Barlow, Tani E., and Donald M. Lowe. Chinese Reflections: Americans Teaching in the People's Republic. Westport, Connecticut: Praeger, 1985. xviii + 250 pp. including index. $17.95 cloth.

Yue Daiyun, and Carolyn Wakeman. To the Storm: The Odyssey of a Revolutionary Chinese Woman. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985. xxv + 405 pp. including index. $17.95 cloth.     

Inward investment and economic development in Poland

This paper summarizes results of a research project funded by the Overseas Development Administration of the UK Government. Its aims were to explore the nature and extent of foreign direct investment in Poland, and to assess the extent of integration of such investment with the indigenous economy. The research involved interviews with Polish government ministries, banks, development agencies, inward investors and indigenous firms. It concludes that there are numerous financial and technical obstacles to indigenous business development. The majority of inward investors aim to serve the Polish and other Central and Eastern European markets rather than simply selling cheaply produced products to the West. Moreover, most have already developed significant local sourcing from Polish suppliers.     

The problem of interests in contemporary liberal political theory

‘Interest’ is a central concept in contemporary liberal political theory. Much of this discussion is marked by related confusions between ‘interest’ and ‘actions‐in‐interests’ and between ‘subjective’ and ‘objective’ interests. These confusions are damaging, since liberal theorists are ostensibly firmly opposed to treating objective interests as politically relevant, but they inevitably finish up admiting the relevance of some form of objective interests. They do this by limiting valid interest judgements to those which are rational, or which favour future over present interests, or which are made post facto, or which favour public over individual interests. This admission of objective interests into liberal theory has important implications for the way in which liberal theorists conceive of relationships between the liberal democratic state and its citizens. In particular, it seriously undermines the democratic element in contemporary liberal democratic theories of political representation.