DOCSLIB.ORG

Challenges of Democracy in the European Union and Its Neighbors

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Challenges of Democracy in the European Union and Its Neighbors Challenges of Democracy in the European Union and its Neighbors Aylin Ünver Noi and Sasha Toperich Editors Center for Transatlantic Relations Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies Johns Hopkins University Aylin Ünver Noi and Sasha Toperich, eds. Challenges of Democracy in the European Union and its Neighbors Washington, DC: Center for Transatlantic Relations, 2016. © Center for Transatlantic Relations, 2016 Center for Transatlantic Relations The Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies The Johns Hopkins University 1717 Massachusetts Ave., NW, Suite 525 Washington, DC 20036 Tel: (202) 663-5880 Fax: (202) 663-5879 Email: [email protected] http://transatlantic.sais-jhu.edu ISBN 13: 978-0-9907720-6 Cover image: Shutterstock.com Contents Preface . .v Acknowledgements . .vii List of Abbreviations . .ix Tables and Figures . .xi Introduction . .xiii Aylin Ünver Noi and Sasha Toperich Part I Challenges Of Democracy In The European Union Chapter 1 . .3 The Conceptual Challenge to Transnational Democracy in the European Union Mario Telò Chapter 2 . .25 Racism in Europe: A Challenge for Democracy Leila Hadj-Abdou Part II Challenges Of Democracy In The Aspirant Countries Chapter 3 . .45 Challenges of Democracy in Turkey: Europeanization, Modernization and Securitization Revisited Aylin Ünver Noi Chapter 4 . .75 Challenges of Democracy in Serbia Daniel Serwer Chapter 5 . .93 Challenges of Democracy in Bosnia and Herzegovina Sasha Toperich and Mak Kamenica iv CHALLENGES OF DEMOCRACY IN THE EUROPEAN UNION AND ITS NEIGHBORS Part III Challenges of Democracy in the Neighborhood of the European Union Chapter 6 . .109 Rethinking the European Union’s Neighborhood Policy Michael Leigh Chapter 7 . .123 Challenges of Democracy in the Caucasus Alex Sokolowski Chapter 8 . .145 Challenges of Democracy: Corruption Shaazka Beyerle Part IV How Effective Is the EU’s Democracy Promotion? Chapter 9 . .165 Constructing the EU as a Global Actor: A Critical Analysis of European Democracy Promotion Münevver Cebeci Chapter 10 . .183 Human Rights and Democracy Promotion: EU Blows on an Uncertain Trumpet Geoffrey Harris Appendix: Conference Agenda . .205 About the Authors . .209 Preface his timely volume explores challenges of democracy in the EU and Tchallenges of democracy in EU aspirant countries and their neigh- bors. Authors take a close look at the effect of EU democracy-promo- tion efforts on the EU's international role and normative power. A quarter century ago, the Soviet Union dissolved and the Cold War ended. Since then, and particularly after the Balkan wars of the 1990s, a generalized sense took hold in Western capitals that the natu- ral state of the post-Cold War era would be European peace, stability and inexorable expansion of Europe's democratic space. Central and southeast European countries joined the EU and NATO to extend the spaces of Europe where democracy and market economies prevailed and war simply did not happen. The EU created a variety of means to associate neighboring countries not yet willing or able to join its structures. In the West, consensus grew that the post-Cold War security order in Europe was stable; that the magnetic qualities of life within the European Union would eventually lead eastern and southeastern European neighbors to align themselves to its standards; and that Russia, while still distant, could, with Western support, modernize and eventually arrange itself within Europe’s evolving order. History, it turns out, did not end with the Cold War. Walls came down, but throughout the unsettled spaces of wider Europe, that vast area beyond the EU, other walls remained—historical animosities, eth- nic hatreds, unresolved borders, and struggles for power and control. Meanwhile, a dizzying array of domestic and foreign challenges has exposed fault lines among EU member states themselves in a genera- tion. Such divisions are nothing new, but they have taken on a new quality as a surge of refugees, terrorist fears, high youth unemploy- ment, and uneven growth give life to popular anxieties and illiberal responses that are challenging some of the EU’s most fundamental premises and structures. v vi CHALLENGES OF DEMOCRACY IN THE EUROPEAN UNION AND ITS NEIGHBORS The vision of a Europe, whole and free, is being tested today by the realities of a Europe that is fractured and anxious, which leaves Europe’s west with less confidence and readiness to reach out in any significant way to Europe’s east. Our authors tackle these challenges and propose ways forward. We are grateful to them, and to our editors, Aylin Ünver Noi and Sasha Toperich. Daniel S. Hamilton Austrian Marshall Plan Foundation Professor Executive Director Center for Transatlantic Relations Acknowledgements his book is based on the proceedings of a conference held on TMarch 30, 2015, at the Johns Hopkins University SAIS Center for Transatlantic relations. Some of the contributors to this book partici- pated in the conference, and their conference papers were updated and revised according to changes that have since occurred in the region. Other authors also joined us in an effort to analyze and present addi- tional perspectives on the challenges of democracy in the European Union and its Neighbors. We would like to express our gratitude to all our SAIS colleagues for their valuable support in organizing the confer- ence and to the authors for their hard work on this project. We wish to express special thanks to our editor for the careful atten- tion given to the manuscript. Our special thanks go to Andy Mullins for his dedication to timely and incisive edits in the last phase of production. We are grateful to Peggy Irvine for working out the publishing details of this and many other CTR publications. The opinions expressed in the following essays are the authors’ alone, and do not necessarily represent the views of any government or institutions, or those of their fellow contributors. Aylin Ünver Noi Non-Resident Fellow, Center for Transatlantic Relations SAIS Sasha Toperich Senior Fellow; Center for Transatlantic Relations SAIS vii Abbreviations AA Association Agreement AKP Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi) ANAP Motherland Party (Anavatan Partisi) APT Azerbaijan Partnership for Transparency ASEAN Association of Southeast Asian Nations BiH Bosnia and Herzegovina BMENA Broader Middle East and North Africa Initiative CCE Center for Civic Engagement CEECs Central and Eastern European Countries CeSID Center for Free Elections and Democracy CoE Council of Europe DAD Democracy Assistance Dialogue DCFTA Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement DSP Democratic Left Part (Demokrat Sol Parti) EaP Eastern Partnership EC European Community ECB European Central Bank ECHR European Convention of Human Rights EDL English Defence League EEAS European External Action Service EED European Endowment for Democracy EFP European Foreign Policy EFPR European Foreign Policy Research EIDHR The European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights ENAR European Network Against Racism ENP European Neighborhood Policy EP European Parliament EU European Union FPÖ Austrian Freedom Party GDP Gross Domestic Product GIZ Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH GYLA Georgian Young Lawyers Association IC International Community ICTY International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia IEE/ULB Institut d’Etudes Europeennes ix x CHALLENGES OF DEMOCRACY IN THE EUROPEAN UNION AND ITS NEIGHBORS IOM International Organization of Migration ISFED International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy IMF International Monetary Fund IREX International Research & Exchanges Board MENA Middle East and North Africa MEP Member of the European Parliament MERCOSUR Common Market of the South (Latin America) MHP Nationalist Action Party (Milliyetçi Hareket Partisi) NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organization NDI National Democratic Institute NGNI New Generation New Initiative NGO Non Governmental Organization NPE Normative Power Europe OHR Office of High Representative OECD Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development OGP Open Government Partnership OSCE Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe PEGIDA Patriotic Europeans against the Islamisation of the Occident PIC Peace Implementation Council PMMG Public Movement for Multinational Georgia RCI Rational Choice Institutionalism SDC Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation SFRJ Socialist Republic of Yugoslavia SEDA Social Economic Development Agency SI Sociological Institutionalism SIGMA Support for Improvement in Governance and Management SVP Swiss People’s Party TESEV Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation TEU Treaty on European Union TFEU Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union TI Transparency International UDHR Universal Declaration of Human Rights UK United Kingdom UN United Nations UNAG United Nations Association of Georgia UNM United National Movement US United States USAID United States Agency for International Development USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics WB The World Bank Group WW2 Second World War Figures and Tables Table 3-1. Reform Packages 2001–2004 . .53 Table 3-2. Rates of Support to the Turkey’s EU Membership . .54 among the Turkish Public Figure 8-1. Corruption Perception Index 2015 . .148 xi Introduction Aylin Ünver Noi and Sasha Toperich he classical theory of democracy defines democracy as “the will of Tthe people” and “the common good.”1 Accordingly, “the demo- cratic method is that institutional arrangement for arriving
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Transformation of Italian Democracy
    Bulletin of Italian Politics Vol. 1, No. 1, 2009, 29-47 The Transformation of Italian Democracy Sergio Fabbrini University of Trento Abstract: The history of post-Second World War Italy may be divided into two distinct periods corresponding to two different modes of democratic functioning. During the period from 1948 to 1993 (commonly referred to as the First Republic), Italy was a consensual democracy; whereas the system (commonly referred to as the Second Republic) that emerged from the dramatic changes brought about by the end of the Cold War functions according to the logic of competitive democracy. The transformation of Italy’s political system has thus been significant. However, there remain important hurdles on the road to a coherent institutionalisation of the competitive model. The article reconstructs the transformation of Italian democracy, highlighting the socio-economic and institutional barriers that continue to obstruct a competitive outcome. Keywords: Italian politics, Models of democracy, Parliamentary government, Party system, Interest groups, Political change. Introduction As a result of the parliamentary elections of 13-14 April 2008, the Italian party system now ranks amongst the least fragmented in Europe. Only four party groups are represented in the Senate and five in the Chamber of Deputies. In comparison, in Spain there are nine party groups in the Congreso de los Diputados and six in the Senado; in France, four in the Assemblée Nationale an d six in the Sénat; and in Germany, six in the Bundestag. Admittedly, as is the case for the United Kingdom, rather fewer parties matter in those democracies in terms of the formation of governments: generally not more than two or three.
    [Show full text]
  • 2016 Afsol Book.Pdf
    African-Centred Solutions Building Peace and Security in Africa Editors Sunday Okello and Mesfin Gebremichael Copyright © 2016 Institute for Peace and Security Studies, Addis Ababa University Printed in Ethiopia First published: 2016 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electoronic or mechanical including photocopy, recording or inclusion in any information storage and retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the Institute for Peace and Security Studies. The views expressed in this book are those of the authors. They do not necessarily reflect the views of the Institute. ISBN: 978-99944-943-3-0 Table of Contents Chapter One Introduction by Sunday Angoma Okello ................................................... 1 Chapter Two Interrogating the Concept and Ideal of African-Centred Solution to African Peace and Security Challenges By Amadu Sesay ..................... 21 Chapter Three Enriching the African-Centred Solutions Concept: Reflections on AU-led Peace Support Operations in Sudan and Somalia By Dawit Yohannes ....................................................................................................... 47 Chapter Four South Sudan: Exploring African–Centred Hybrid Sustainable Peacebuilding and Security By Evelyn Mayanja ................................... 75 Chapter Five Statehood, Small Arms and Security Governance in Southwest Ethiopia: The Need for an African-Centred Perspective By Mercy Fekadu Mulugeta ....................................................................................... 103 Chapter Six Understanding Peaceful Coexistence from an Urban Refugee Perspective in Africa: The Case of Uganda By Brenda Aleesi ............ 135 Chapter Seven Civil Society in Conflict Transformation: Key Evidence from Kenya’s Post-election Violence By Caleb Wafula ................................................. 161 Chapter Eight Boko Haram Insurgency and Sustainable Peace in Nigeria and the Lake Chad Region: AU-MNJTF’s Intervention By Naeke Sixtus Mougombe .
    [Show full text]
  • A Comprehensive Plan to Innovate Democracy in Europe
    A comprehensive plan to innovate democracy in Europe Civil society vision for the European Democracy Action Plan A comprehensive plan to innovate democracy in Europe Civil society vision for the European Democracy Action Plan CIVIL SOCIETY VISION FOR 04 THE EUROPEAN DEMOCRACY ACTION PLAN TABLE OF CONTENTS Executive summary 07 Introduction 09 1. Civic space and active citizenship 12 1.1 Policy framework with guidelines on civic space 14 1.2 Anti-SLAPP directive 16 1.3 Whistleblowers protection 16 1.4 Space for youth 17 1.5 Financial support to CSOs 18 1.6 Conditionality related to the EU funds 20 1.7 Expanding the Rule of Law Mechanism 21 1.8 Stakeholder participation in strengthening democracy and the rule of law 22 1.9 Structured dialogue with Civil Society at EU and Member State level 22 1.10 Active citizenship fit for the 21st Century 24 1.11 European public sphere 26 1.12 Participation of underrepresented groups 27 1.13 Conference on the Future of Europe 28 2. Elections 31 2.1 European electoral reform 32 2.2 Inclusiveness & equal suffrage rights 33 2.3 Accessibility of elections 34 2.4 European political parties’ conduct, transparency & resilience 35 2.5 Online political advertising 37 2.6 Elections during a pandemic 41 2.7 Citizen election observation 43 2.8 Data Protection and elections 44 2.9 Election Infrastructure 45 CIVIL SOCIETY VISION FOR THE EUROPEAN DEMOCRACY ACTION PLAN 05 3. Disinformation and online public sphere 46 3.1 Governing internet platforms 48 3.2 Transparency of dominant platforms 50 3.3 Addressing the online manipulation business model by enforcing data protection rules 52 3.4 Upholding fundamental rights in the EU approach to disinformation 53 3.5 Central coordination and decentralised cooperation on disinformation 54 3.6 Decentralised framework fund 55 3.7 Sustainable and transnational journalism and media to counter disinformation 56 3.8 Global coordination and knowledge-sharing around hybrid threats 57 3.9 Data access for public interest scrutiny 58 3.10 Elections and disinformation 59 4.
    [Show full text]
  • Status and Protection of Globally Threatened Species in the Caucasus
    STATUS AND PROTECTION OF GLOBALLY THREATENED SPECIES IN THE CAUCASUS CEPF Biodiversity Investments in the Caucasus Hotspot 2004-2009 Edited by Nugzar Zazanashvili and David Mallon Tbilisi 2009 The contents of this book do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of CEPF, WWF, or their sponsoring organizations. Neither the CEPF, WWF nor any other entities thereof, assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, product or process disclosed in this book. Citation: Zazanashvili, N. and Mallon, D. (Editors) 2009. Status and Protection of Globally Threatened Species in the Caucasus. Tbilisi: CEPF, WWF. Contour Ltd., 232 pp. ISBN 978-9941-0-2203-6 Design and printing Contour Ltd. 8, Kargareteli st., 0164 Tbilisi, Georgia December 2009 The Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF) is a joint initiative of l’Agence Française de Développement, Conservation International, the Global Environment Facility, the Government of Japan, the MacArthur Foundation and the World Bank. This book shows the effort of the Caucasus NGOs, experts, scientific institutions and governmental agencies for conserving globally threatened species in the Caucasus: CEPF investments in the region made it possible for the first time to carry out simultaneous assessments of species’ populations at national and regional scales, setting up strategies and developing action plans for their survival, as well as implementation of some urgent conservation measures. Contents Foreword 7 Acknowledgments 8 Introduction CEPF Investment in the Caucasus Hotspot A. W. Tordoff, N. Zazanashvili, M. Bitsadze, K. Manvelyan, E. Askerov, V. Krever, S. Kalem, B. Avcioglu, S. Galstyan and R. Mnatsekanov 9 The Caucasus Hotspot N.
    [Show full text]
  • Strengthening Democracy in Europe and Its Resilience Against Autocracy: Daring More Democracy and a European Democracy Charter Paul Nemitz and Frithjof Ehm
    Strengthening Democracy in Europe and its Resilience against Autocracy: Daring more Democracy and a European Democracy Charter Paul Nemitz and Frithjof Ehm DEPARTMENT OF EUROPEAN LEGAL STUDIES Research Paper in Law 01 / 2019 European Legal Studies Etudes Juridiques Européennes RESEARCH PAPERS IN LAW 1/2019 Paul Nemitz and Frithjof Ehm Strengthening Democracy in Europe and its Resilience against Autocracy: Daring more Democracy and a European Democracy Charter © Paul Nemitz and Frithjof Ehm, 2019 European Legal Studies/Etudes Juridiques Européennes Dijver 11 | BE-8000 Brugge, Belgium | Tel. +32 (0)50 47 72 61 www.coleurope.eu 1 Strengthening Democracy in Europe and its Resilience against Autocracy: Daring more Democracy and a European Democracy Charter* Paul Nemitz and Frithjof Ehm** INTRODUCTION: THE CRISIS OF REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY Representative Democracy is in crisis and this not only in Europe, considering developments in the US in particular.1 EU Member States like Poland,2 Hungary3 and Austria4 are governed by populists, some of them with autocratic tendencies.5 France is facing a crisis of political violence with “Gilets Jaunes” rampaging on its streets. Romania is riddled by corruption.6 Ever lower participation in elections and declining membership in political parties on both sides of the Atlantic document the steady decline of engagement of people in representative * To be published in S. Garben, I. Govaere and P. Nemitz (eds), Critical Reflections on Constitutional Democracy in the European Union (Oxford, Hart Publishing, 2019) (forthcoming). ** Paul F. Nemitz is Principal Adviser at the European Commission, Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers. He is teaching EU Law as a visiting Professor at the College of Europe in Bruges.
    [Show full text]
  • The Quality of Democracy: Improvement Or Subversion
    First unedited draft, Comments very welcome Italy and Spain by Rafael López-Pintor & Leonardo Morlino University of Madrid and University of Florence To be presented at the Conference on “The Quality of Democracy: Improvement or Subversion?”, Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law & European Forum, Stanford Institute for International Studies, Stanford, October 10-11, 2003. Why Italy and Spain? The democratic quality of every European polity is worthwhile to be analyzed. The fact that most of European democracies are well established is not related, if not indirectly, to the ‘quality’ they are able to achieve. Thus, during last years meaningful assessments of some European democracy have been carried out. For example, one of the most relevant democratic assessment is that of United Kingdom recently carried out by Beetham and Weir (1999). In this perspective the decision of analyzing Italy and Spain has no strong theoretical or empirical reasons except the willingness of choosing not the old, stable democracies, but more recently established, large democratic polity in countries with previous authoritarian experiences in their more or less recent past. That is, our interest was rather directed toward European democracies that may be more problematic with regard to quality because of their political traditions. At the same time, Italy and Spain can be usefully contrasted as the Italian democratic installation and consolidation go back to the 1940’s and 1950’s whereas the Spanish ones are more recent and take place during the second part of 1970’s and early 1980’s. Such a comparison allow us to consider within the ‘ceteris paribus’ clause the size of the country with all related aspects.
    [Show full text]
  • Sons of Isaac
    Sons of Isaac Ezekiel 38:1-4a, “And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him, And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal: And I will turn thee back...” From political leaders to pastors behind their pulpits to authors that write on this subject concerning last day events and eschatology, 99.9% have said what we read here in verse 2 (at least the Gog, the land of Magog’ part of it) has to be Russia. I have been saying it is not. I told you in the first message and reminded you in the second message that this whole concept started because of what Josephus wrote in one line of his works on the History of the Jews, saying that the Greeks claimed that the Magogites (the people from Magog) were Scythians. Now everyone knows the Scythians were a group of people that populated southern Russia. So that is how they make their Russian connection. And of course, that caught on especially in the 1800’s but it really took off about 70-80 years ago when Russia turned into a communistic nation. So it really gained in popularity to call the Russians the Magogites: “Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him—they are it, we finally have our explanation now who this is referring to.” So they are either just too plain lazy to do the homework or they just don’t care enough about history to look into who these Scythians were; because if they did, as I’ve been saying now for two messages, they would find the Lost Tribes of Israel were Scythians (the ten northern tribes that were either taken into captivity or they disbursed themselves to run from the captivity that was coming).
    [Show full text]
  • Challenger Party List
    Appendix List of Challenger Parties Operationalization of Challenger Parties A party is considered a challenger party if in any given year it has not been a member of a central government after 1930. A party is considered a dominant party if in any given year it has been part of a central government after 1930. Only parties with ministers in cabinet are considered to be members of a central government. A party ceases to be a challenger party once it enters central government (in the election immediately preceding entry into office, it is classified as a challenger party). Participation in a national war/crisis cabinets and national unity governments (e.g., Communists in France’s provisional government) does not in itself qualify a party as a dominant party. A dominant party will continue to be considered a dominant party after merging with a challenger party, but a party will be considered a challenger party if it splits from a dominant party. Using this definition, the following parties were challenger parties in Western Europe in the period under investigation (1950–2017). The parties that became dominant parties during the period are indicated with an asterisk. Last election in dataset Country Party Party name (as abbreviation challenger party) Austria ALÖ Alternative List Austria 1983 DU The Independents—Lugner’s List 1999 FPÖ Freedom Party of Austria 1983 * Fritz The Citizens’ Forum Austria 2008 Grüne The Greens—The Green Alternative 2017 LiF Liberal Forum 2008 Martin Hans-Peter Martin’s List 2006 Nein No—Citizens’ Initiative against
    [Show full text]
  • Democratisation European Neighbourhood
    DEMOCRATISATION IN THE EUROPEAN NEIGHBOURHOOD DEMOCRATISATION IN THE EUROPEAN NEIGHBOURHOOD MICHAEL EMERSON, EDITOR CONTRIBUTORS Senem Aydın Michael Emerson Hendrik Kraetzschmar Alina Mungiu-Pippidi Hryhoriy Nemyria Ghia Nodia Gergana Noutcheva Nikolay Petrov Madalena Resende Uladzimir Rouda Emad El-Din Shahin Bassam Tibi Nathalie Tocci Marius Vahl Richard Youngs CENTRE FOR EUROPEAN POLICY STUDIES BRUSSELS The Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) is an independent policy research institute based in Brussels. Its mission is to produce sound analytical research leading to constructive solutions to the challenges facing Europe today. The chapters of this book were in most cases initially presented as working papers to a conference on “American and European Approaches to Democratisation in the European Neighbourhood”, held in Brussels at CEPS on 20-21 June 2005. CEPS gratefully acknowledges financial support for this conference from Compagnia di San Paolo, the Open Society Institute, the Heinrich Böll Foundation and the US Mission to the European Union in Brussels. The views expressed in this report are those of the authors writing in a personal capacity and do not necessarily reflect those of CEPS or any other institution with which the authors are associated. ISBN 92-9079-592-1 © Copyright 2005, Centre for European Policy Studies. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means – electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise – without the prior permission of the Centre for European Policy Studies. Centre for European Policy Studies Place du Congrès 1, B-1000 Brussels Tel: 32 (0) 2 229.39.11 Fax: 32 (0) 2 219.41.51 e-mail: [email protected] internet: http://www.ceps.be CONTENTS Preface Introduction 1 Michael Emerson Part I.
    [Show full text]
  • Let the Mountains Sing
    Let L mountains singN Prayers for the peoples of the Caucasus Every morning, the sun rises over the rugged Caucasus Mountains and casts its warm glow on more than 2,000 villages found between the Black and Caspian Seas. The Caucasus Mountains are largely unknown to the praying world; yet within these vast and beautiful mountains, some of the earth’s most unreached peoples live in oppressive spiritual darkness. Today, 45 distinct languages exist among the peoples of the Caucasus. Suspicious of outsiders, resistant to change, speaking some of the world’s most complex languages and shaped by war and conflict, the fiercly independent peoples of the Caucasus are — from a human perspective — a daunting challenge to the spread of the gospel. PEOPLE GROUPS of the CAUCASUS Every color on the map represents a distinct ethno-linguistic people group of the Caucasus. But even within these groups there are often additional linguistic breakdowns. Many of the 45 to 50 distinct Caucasus languages are among the most complex in the world. The world’s languages are categorized from Level 1, simplest to learn, to Level 4, most difficult. Most of the Caucasus languages are Level 4 languages. Source: NCRP-2014 For centuries, the Caucasus Mountains have hosted epic conquerors, power struggles, war and triumph. In Greek mythology, fire was created in the Caucasus. Prometheus was chained in its mountains. Arabs, Byzantines, Mongols, Persians, Tatars, Turks, Russians and Nazis have each tried to conquer and control the lands around the Caucasus. The many people of the Caucasus are resilient, holding fast Each rising sun carries the grace of another day for the to ancient traditions as they raise their families and support Caucasus — a day filled with hope and opportunity.
    [Show full text]
  • Persian Imperial Policy Behind the Rise and Fall of the Cimmerian Bosporus in the Last Quarter of the Sixth to the Beginning of the Fifth Century BC
    Persian Imperial Policy Behind the Rise and Fall of the Cimmerian Bosporus in the Last Quarter of the Sixth to the Beginning of the Fifth Century BC Jens Nieling The aim of the following paper is to recollect arguments for the hypotheses of a substantial Persian interference in the Greek colonies of the Cimmerian Bosporus and that they remained not untouched by Achaemenid policy in western Anatolia. The settlements ought to have been affected positively in their prime in the last quarter of the sixth century, but also harmed during their first major crisis at the beginning of the fifth century and afterwards. A serious break in the tight interrelationship between the Bosporan area and Achaemenid Anatolia occurred through the replacement of the Archaeanactid dynasty, ruling the Cimmerian Bosporus from 480 onwards, in favour of the succeeding Spartocids by an Athenian naval expedition under the command of Pericles in the year 438/437.1 The assumption of a predominant Persian influence to the north of the Caucasus mountains contradicts the still current theory of V. Tolstikov2 and the late Yu.G. Vinogradov,3 who favour instead a major Scythian or local impact as a decisive factor at the Bosporan sites.4 To challenge this traditional posi- tion, this paper will follow the successive stages of architectural development in the central settlement of Pantikapaion on its way to becoming the capital of the region. The argumentation is necessarily based on a parallelization of stratigraphical evidence with historical sources, since decisive archaeological data to support either the Persian or the Scythian hypothesis are few.
    [Show full text]
  • The Magog Deception
    The Magog Deception Open your bible to Ezekiel 38. Verse 1, “And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince [or the prince of the chief] of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him, And say, [...] I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal...” God is against them. “Ezekiel tells us that Gog, [referring to Magog], the nation that will lead all of the other powers of darkness against Israel, will come out of the north. Biblical scholars have been saying for generation that Gog must be Russia. What other powerful nation is to the north of Israel? None. But it didn’t seem to make sense before the Russian revolution, when Russia was a Christian country. Now it does, now that Russia has become communistic and atheistic, now that Russia has set itself against God. Now it fits the description of Gog perfectly.” The above is part of a speech given at a dinner with California legislators back in 1971 by a then future U.S. President, Ronald Regan. People can come up with and propagate all kinds of theories of who is who and what is what when they do not study God’s Word along with the history that must go along with it. I have kind of pointed that out in this series for years now. Even a former U.S. President was convinced that Russia was Gog of Magog, that they are the ones to the north.
    [Show full text]