DOI: 10.3897/jbgs.e189118

Authors: John Pickles

Abstract: Recent political protests in Bulgaria, led in part by Gen Z students, workers, and unemployed young people, have sharpened popular demand for a rethinking of both public services and national identity. In the face of continued emigration of young people concerned about the nature of opportunities in Bulgaria, the protesters asked, in part, for a renegotiation of Bulgarian identity. In this context, Kapka Kassabova’s trilogy of biographical family explorations of the experience of the émigré, border lives, and shifting geopolitical landscapes have much to teach us about the interweaving historical geographies of the region. Kassabova’s writing both foreshadows and illuminates Bulgaria’s ongoing struggle about staying, leaving, and renewal.

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DOI: 10.3897/jbgs.e167413

Authors: György Orsós

Abstract: The study explores the relationship between geopolitics and tourism through the case of Cluj-Napoca, with a focus on processes of subject formation. The site was selected for two reasons: (1) the city is currently located in Romania but was part of Hungary before 1920 and remains ethnically divided between a Romanian majority and a Hungarian minority; (2) it has transformed from a post-communist industrial centre into a neoliberal IT hub. Through an analysis of Romanian and Hungarian-language guidebooks published over the past 100+ years (11 guidebooks, 1903–2018), I conducted a discourse analysis of both narrative and visual content, focusing on explicit nationalist elements, discursive contestations over historical heritage, and representations of communist ideology. The findings indicate that while Hungarian-language materials have remained unchanged in their portrayal of the city’s identity, Romanian-language materials have shifted markedly from nation-building narratives toward more multicultural and inclusive framings. This discursive transformation is accompanied, however, by what Simon Harrison terms the symbolic appropriation of cultural heritage. The study argues that Hungarian tourists from Hungary emphasize Cluj’s heritage as part of the Hungarian nation; while Romanian tourists historically emphasized ethnic character under national communism, more recently they focus on integrating the city into a European, multicultural civil identity.

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DOI: 10.3897/jbgs.e159882

Authors: Samira Alakbarova

Abstract: Strengthening the interrelations between spatial risk analysis and sustainable territorial development has emerged in recent years as one of the key directions in geographical and socio-economic research. This study employs a complex approach to ensure the integration of spatial risk factors into sustainable territorial development processes. The Shaki-Zagatala economic region of the Republic of Azerbaijan was selected as the pilot area within the framework of the research. In the contemporary context of increasing natural and technogenic risks, global climate change, and the growing complexity of socio-economic and territorial development processes, the importance of spatial risk analysis and management defines the relevance of this research. This study investigates the spatio-temporal dynamics of natural-technological processes occurring between 1950 and 2024 in the six administrative districts (Shaki, Zagatala, Gabala, Balaken, Oghuz, and Gakh) of the Shaki-Zagatala economic region. Statistical analyses are conducted to explore the relationship between population density and the intensity of natural-technological disasters. By applying a combination of advanced spatial-statistical methods, such as the Moran’s I, Getis-Ord Gi* and Analytic Hierarchy Process, the study aims to evaluate the correlation between population density and disaster frequency, identifying high-risk areas and their temporal patterns. In the presented article, as a result of the complex studies conducted to achieve the set objectives, a map of the spatial distribution of natural disaster risks in the Shaki-Zagatala economic region has been developed. The results obtained allow for the identification of the area’s risk profile and the establishment of key priorities for long-term growth. A strategic planning model has been developed based on the identified opportunities and challenges in the field of sustainable territorial development.

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DOI: 10.3897/jbgs.e109546

Authors: Eva Parvanova

Abstract: The paper uses methods of historical and comparative analysis and studies the functioning of United Nations Security Council (UNSC) since its establishment. It finds out, that the debate on the institutional performance is characterized by a consensus, i.e. the lack of reforms has led to the lack of its effectiveness. Nowadays, such a finding is even more evident, the aggressive war that one of the permanent members, Russia started against Ukraine, added new arguments of the same logic. The paper draws on secondary data to explore the weaknesses of the UNSC with a particular emphasis on the negative impact of the veto right. It highlights the limits of the UNSC and the attempts of state coalitions to overcome them. It elaborates on criteria for legitimate right to accede to UNSC permanent membership and justifies the relevance of four of them on the grounds of their current appropriateness. Further on, the paper introduces outcomes of a cross-country analysis of a G-4 (Germany, Japan, Brazil and India), the most influential state coalition for UNSC reform. The results of the comparison illustrate legitimate potential of states to become permanent members of the UNSC. The discussion includes policy recommendations for UNSC reforms: adopting criteria for legitimacy of permanent UNSC membership; change in the structure of the permanent UNSC membership; abolition of the veto right and introducing the method of qualified majority voting.

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DOI: 10.3897/jbgs.e113331

Authors: Oleksiy Gnatiuk, Kateryna Pisotska, Viacheslav Polhun, Viktoriia Zapototska

Abstract: The paper focuses on the practices of everyday use of street names after the massive toponymic cleansing under the frameworks of decommunisation and de-Russification in Vinnytsia, Ukraine. Employing a mixed method approach, which includes a social experiment with the passersby on the streets of the city, analysis of the real estate advertisement and a series of interviews with the citizens, the authors reveal various practices of everyday use of new and old street names as a public response to the officially imposed city-text. The findings indicate that the transition from the old to the new toponymic system after the ideologically-driven toponymic cleansing does not represent an immediate and a single-step action, and should be considered a long-lasting, protracted and multi-staged process that requires several years or even decades. The gradual introduction of a new place name into various spheres of public life represents a kind of heterochronic coevolution driven by the collision of top-down vs. bottom-up interests. Another finding is that public inertia towards the new toponymic landscapes may be driven almost totally by motivations that have no relationship to ideology and politics. Also, it has been found that the actual communicative practices after the renaming depend on a variety of predominantly local factors and actors, including the specific place, place name, communicative situation and characteristics of the interlocutors. The findings are discussed in the framework of social sustainability, pointing at the need for clearly articulated and coherent municipal politics aimed at familiarising the community with newly introduced place names.

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DOI: 10.3897/jbgs.e78374

Authors: John Pickles

Abstract:

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DOI: 10.3897/jbgs.2020.43.1

Authors: Eugenia Sarafova, Spasimir Pilev

Abstract: Caricature maps have long been used for political propaganda, forging ideas and views. This study examines the successful examples of political propaganda from different historical periods by combining the caricature genre with cartography. Caricature maps from Bulgaria and the world are discussed, paying special attention to one of the most famous Bulgarian cartoonists – Rayko Alexiev. In his works can be found many examples of spatial representation of geopolitical events and processes from the 30s and 40s of XX century in Bulgaria, the Balkans, other world regions, and even the whole globe. Examples of 21st century political propaganda through caricature maps of Brexit are also discussed.

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DOI: 10.3897/jbgs.2019.41.9

Authors: Ekaterina Maslarska

Abstract: Last few years the topic of immigrant’s crisis in Europe is one of the top priorities for European union. The scope and the matter of this problem is very important, as it relates to finance, politics and the future of the old continent. The importance of the problem is mainly related to its scale. Previously the European parliament stated that the current migration crisis is the worst since World War II. In 2015 and 2016 alone, more than 2.5 million people applied for asylum in the EU, while more than 2,030 people are thought to have lost their lives in the Mediterranean in the first six months of 2017 alone. The aim of the publication is to make a quick overview of the current state of immigrant’s integration policies in the European Union. The publication includes the newest data regarding the integration of immigrants in EU. Part of it are Eurostat data base from the last few years and the latest survey of Eurobarometer 469 (April 2018). Also, there are presented the latest analysis on the topic, regarding the integration of immigrants. The purpose of this publication is to show the importance of the problem and the policies of the EU which are attempting to solve the issues. The importance of the integration of immigrants will grow in future for sure. Opinions of the EU citizens are shown in the publication and they illustrate that there are still some significant variations in perception of immigrant integration. This would be a big opportunity and a challenge for the EU. The role of the policies of the Union is to improve the approaches of the countries and to help them to create a smooth process of the integration.

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