The Cultural Role and Political Implications of Poland’s 1947 Shakespeare Festival

Text Matters ◽

10.1515/texmat-2017-0010 ◽

2017 ◽

pp. 183-193

Author(s):

Krystyna Kujawińska Courtney

Keyword(s):

Eastern Europe ◽

Soviet Culture ◽

South Eastern ◽

Political Implications ◽

Marxist Ideology ◽

South Eastern Europe ◽

Cultural Role

Emerging from the atrocities of war, and still hoping to avert the results of the Yalta conference during which the countries of Central and South–Eastern Europe, including Poland, were “handed over” to Stalin, Poland’s 1947 Shakespeare theatre festival was a sign of courage and defiance. At the Festival 23 productions of 9 Shakespeare’s dramas were staged by theatres in 11 towns, with its finale in Warsaw. My paper will show that the Festival was an attempt to demonstrate both Polish cultural links with Europe, and to subvert Marxist ideology and Soviet culture.

Download Full-text

A dangerous precedent? The political implications of Kosovo's independence on ethnic conflicts in South-Eastern Europe and the CIS

Security and Human Rights ◽

10.1163/187502309789192496 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 20 (3) ◽

pp. 223-237

Author(s):

Solveig Richter ◽

Uwe Halbach

Keyword(s):

Eastern Europe ◽

The Political ◽

Worst Case ◽

Declaration Of Independence ◽

Coercive Diplomacy ◽

South Eastern ◽

Political Implications ◽

South Eastern Europe ◽

Political Entrepreneurs ◽

One Year

AbstractKosovo's declaration of independence on 17 February 2008 has re-ignited debates about the interaction among the fundamental international legal principles of self-determination, sovereignty and territorial integrity. The question of conformity with international law was interrelated to scenarios on the political implications of secession. After more than one year the following article elaborates if the unilateral declaration of independence of Kosovo had a precedent-setting impact for long-standing autonomist and secessionist conflicts in South-Eastern Europe and in CIS. The Kosovo-precedent formula had its biggest impact in the secessionist conflicts in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, where a powerful external actor Russia, made effective use of the precedent-formula in its coercive diplomacy against Georgia. Generally speaking, in South-Eastern-Europe, the independence of Kosovo had only minor destabilizing effects with the exception of Bosnia and Hercegovina and Macedonia where political entrepreneurs used the opportunity to play the nationalist card and to profit from worst case scenarios of a disintegration of their country.

Download Full-text