In the light of the official statements made by the capitals of its coastal states, there is probably not a single centimetre of free space left in this sea, to which a claim has not been issued. In some parts of the sea, the claims of three, four of even five states overlap, creating a truly Gordian knot. The significance of the South China Sea causes that if the dispute over the archipelagos is not settled by implementing peaceful methods and means, at the negotiation table, East Asia region is likely to become a potential source of destabilisation and conflict whose size, in respect to the location and the number of parties directly or indirectly engaged in the dispute might turn out to be extremely hazardous.

Artykuł ma na celu ukazanie przyczyn konfliktu na Ukrainie w odniesieniu do struktur zachodnich – Unii Europejskiej oraz NATO i ich reakcji na wydarzenia, jakie miały i mają miejsce w tym kraju, a także oczekiwań społeczności międzynarodowej i samej Ukrainy względem tych graczy. Artykuł uwypukla także specyficzne cechy konfliktu, które wskazują na jego hybrydowy charakter, wyjaśniając jednocześnie przyczyny i możliwe skutki.

The article describes the specific features of the new terrorism in the Donbass which has the support of Russia in the struggle for influence on the policy of Ukraine. The terrorist organizations on Donbass are specific territorial units. Using the concept ‘state’, focusing on the Orthodox faith and idea of ‘Russian world’ this terrorism has purpose to capture a new territory, intimidation and demoralization of Ukraine and the world community. In the context of anti-terrorist operation in the Donbass region we studied also the dynamic of changing the attitude of Ukrainians to Russia. From December 6 to December 15, 2014 the Kiev International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) conducted All–Ukrainian poll of public opinion. Deterioration of attitudes towards Russia is observed in all regions. At the same time for studying attitude of Russians to Ukraine the Levada-center in Russia from 23 to 26 January, 2015 conducted a survey on a representative selection for Russian.
The purpose of the second research is monitoring humanitarian aid needs of the residents of Donbass (Donetsk and Lugansk region). The research was conducted by the Kiev International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) in December 2014 (the author of article is one of the organizers of this research). The humanitarian situation in Donbas has deteriorated during period from December 2014 to September 2015: increased number of respondents who estimate the situation of living conditions as unbearable in their localities. A significant share surveyed population (15%) would like to leave the localities of Lugansk and Donetsk region but they are not able. Despite a distress half of the residents of Donbass are optimistic and unite to help each other.

Between Conflict and Coexistence: A Case Study of Hindu-Muslim Relations in Rural North-Western India

The Partition of India upset the status quo causing riots, casualties and a colossal wave of migration that sent thousands of Muslims to their new homeland, Pakistan. Despite the mass violence and displacement, around 35 million Muslims eventually stayed in India. The tensed Hindu–Muslim relations in the aftermath of the Partition intensified a long-standing rivalry between the two groups and led to a feeling of insecurity among Muslims. Strained relations among Hindus and Muslims, which stay at the forefront of social concerns in contemporary India, remain a major cause of worry and call for an in-depth analysis. The article focuses on how the Hindu-Muslim relations developed throughout the modern history, especially during the times of the Indian Independence Movement. The goal of my research is to elucidate historical, social and political contexts of Hindu– Muslim relations in India and to shed a new light on this multifaceted issue. After presenting a historical perspective on Hindu-Muslim relations, the article provides a case study on both communities’ attitudes towards each other. Based on two months of fieldwork conducted in Northern villages of India in January and February 2018, I investigate the multiple stereotypes about Muslims prevailing among Hindu rural community. I address a question whether the character of this uneasy relation is closer to coexistence or a hidden conflict.

Orthodox Palestinians – between Muslims, Jews and Greeks

Palestinians are not a homogeneous group. One of the minority groups are Christians, the majority of whom is Orthodox. Although relatively few have stayed in their homeland, they still play an important role there. The Orthodox Palestinians have a strong feeling of identity, both ethnically, as Arabs, and religiously as Orthodox Christians. They face problems in three main domains. First, they are exposed to the same forms of discrimination from the Israeli regime as the rest of Palestinians – they are deprived of the opportunity to create and be part of their own, fully independent state. Second, they are a minority living among the Sunni majority nation. Thirdly, despite being a majority in their Church – Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem – they are under Greek domination in various areas. All these factors render the situation of Orthodox Palestinians very complex. The aim of this article is to show this situation and its potential influence on the Palestinian question and the Orthodox Church issues.

The turbulent changes in the Middle East which were seen at the very beginning as good news for Israel, at the end of the day became more ambiguous. The Arab Spring and then the war in Syria that had erupted along with massive social protests ended up with regime changes, but what was crucial, the primary success of the Arab awakening was captured by Islamist movements. The changes in the Middle East were even deeper due to at least two factors – Russia „coming into” and the United States „going out” of the region. These new regional circumstances combined with the geopolitical shift in the Middle East and a crumbling American supervision made Israel conclude that its security has become more complex and the U.S has no more been the only significant great power player in the region. Hence the difficult political and military situation around Israel has created a need to adapt to security challenges and simultaneously, to take political opportunities. The goal of this paper is to highlight basic ramifications for Israeli security and diplomacy of the American and Russian factors in the current Middle East politics. The key questions are: How to secure Israeli interests in these new circumstances? How to assess, on the one hand, the risk of the ongoing decline of American interests in the region and, on the other hand, the complexity of the Russian strategy in the Middle East? Finally, whether Israel might be able to gain recognition by the Arab world, not to mention to keep its strategic domination in the region which is already being challenged by the Islamic Republic of Iran and its nuclear ambitions.

Hindu-Muslim Relations in Times of Coronavirus

The history of Hindu-Muslim conflicts in India is century-long. Ever mounting hostility of Hindus has been the primary reason why Muslim minorities in India have fallen victim to the increasing levels of systemic violence. COVID-19 has undergone another dangerous mutation and took Islamophobia to the whole new level. Instead of uniting in the face of danger, we are observing the growing social divisions on the Hindu-Muslim line and the galloping increase in distrust between the two. Are Muslims terrorists who are engaged in jihād using the virus as a weapon? Such superficial judgement is not in the interest of anyone. Nuanced understanding of the novel witch-hunt against Muslims is essential before jumping to any hasty conclusion. The present study aims to explore the consequences of the pandemic for Muslim communities in India, as well as conspiracy theories such as corona jihād, bio jihād, love jihād or population jihād that began to flourish amid the coronavirus crisis.

This article reviews the academic literature on the regional security complex of the South Caucasus, which has been drawing the attention of the academic community for a long time. The paper aims to examine the security dynamics in the South Caucasus with a focus on Azerbaijan and a way in which domestic security is interconnected and linked to the region`s neighborhood and global arena. The conceptual framework for the paper is the regional security complex theory, elaborated by Barry Buzan and Ole Wæver. South Caucasus is an unstable region with several secessionist conflicts and interstate wars, exposed to the influence of its neighbors, which shape the regional security environment. Besides, the region is riven by geopolitical fractures as regional states have various foreign policy orientations, which hampers the resolution of regional conflicts and complicates cooperation. The research is carried at three levels of analysis - the domestic level, reviewing internal vulnerabilities and state to state relations, interregional level, examining dynamics between regional and neighboring states, and the last level - global, considering the interplay between regional and the world-leading powers. Correspondingly, sections of the paper study internal challenges and threats of the regional states, examine relations between Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, and their neighborhood - Turkey, Iran, Russia, as well as global powers - the EU and the US to analyze similar and conflicting interests and patterns of influence. The article concludes that the South Caucasus security environment is unstable, hampered by the failure of democratic transformation and unresolved conflicts, namely Nagorno-Karabakh, which Russia uses as a tool to keep Caucasian states in a sphere of its influence. It is evident that Azerbaijan plays a vital role in the production and transit of hydrocarbons from the Caspian region to Europe. Therefore, it is crucial to eliminate threats coming from the region and to ensure the security of energy infrastructure, carrying energy resources westwards.

The Constitution - the Basic Law is the foundation of the organization in a given country. It defines the general principles of the functioning of internal relations, the competences of its most important elements, and the fundamental rights and freedoms of a person and a citizen2. And the strategy can be perceived as the general outlines of the actions of competent leaders determining the far-reaching aim. It is characterized by a long-term strategic perspective, combining the set of with the strive for solutions that are beneficial not only for themselves, their surroundings, and supporters but also for the paradigm of the common good. Societies during, or immediately after the conflict, seek stabilization. That can be ensured by actions based on a strategy that takes into account the fundamental principles of internal relations. Combining those two paradigms, the Constitution, taking into account the rights of minorities, guaranteeing civil liberties and human rights, may be the basic factor of the strategy of the competent leader, aiming to post-conflict stabilization.

The cycle of individual and communal lives from birth to death is supposedly preserved by the government through institutions. However, political, social, and economic activities are engaged to make ends meet wherein the government is to serve as an unbiased regulator. The activities that play out in Southern Kaduna reflected politics of being on one side with interplay on origin, identity, religion, and locality. On the other hand, it reflects politics of belonging that play on kin, reciprocity, and stranger status. It has thus resulted in violence, suspicion, and persistent conflict. The study examines citizen’s inclusiveness in peacebuilding initiatives and the people’s perception of the sincerity of the government. The research relies on secondary sources where governmental and non-governmental publications and documents from relevant and reliable sources enriched the socio-historical approach, particularly those relating to contestation in the region. The study found out that just like situations in the other northwest states of the country, the crisis exacerbates by the government’s inability to mediate fairly between warring parties to ensure fairness and justice as well as failure to apprehend and punish the culprits, even as recommendations from the various interventions were unimplemented. Thus, the spate of violence continues.

Celem opracowania jest analiza specyfiki konfliktu w Górskim Karabachu oraz jego implikacji dla bezpieczeństwa Azerbejdżanu. Określono tym samym genezę konfliktu, jego przedmiot oraz proces pokojowy. Azerbejdżan postrzegał konflikt karabaski jako zagrażający jego integralności terytorialnej i niepodległości oraz roli międzynarodowej. Porozumienie z listopada 2020 roku można traktować jako sukces polityki Azerbejdżanu, gdyż sankcjonuje prawnie przyłączenie większości terytorium Górskiego Karabachu.

Literature is a consequential medium that reflects human phenomena through artistic mode. It helps in recalling past traumatic experiences though more often in a masked form. The memories of the bellicose conflicts are recounted by the victims long after the harrowing events get safely buried in history and no longer accessible to the present. People conventionally forget the source of the trauma yet they recollect it through literary betokens like poems, musical compositions, plays, novels, stories, etc. The literary texts play a vital role in recalling and understanding a particular conflict through the wounded psyche which no historical or any other narratives can reach as efficaciously. This is one of the main reasons why literary discourses rather than historical narratives are comparatively more efficacious in portraying conflicts. This manuscript highlights what literature tells us about a particular conflict that social science literature has missed on. It additionally accentuates how literary discourses of select women writers from Northeast India proved to be more reliable representations of conflicts because they endeavor to capture the unknowable and inexpressible far more efficaciously through tropes and images. The manuscript is unique in the sense that it attempts to establish a periscopic understanding of identity, conflict, and trauma within literary prisms and for this, the manuscript utilizes the inditements of six women writers from northeast India like Arupa Patangia Kalita, Ratna Bharali Talukdar (State of Assam), Temsula Ao, Easterine Iralu (State of Nagaland), Irom Sharmila, and Ningombam Sunita (State of Manipur).

Globally, sociocultural component of social relations weaves into shades of interactions including one existing between Farmers-Herders in their agricultural engagements to generate value that strengthens national integration. Migration pattern and choice expose migrant’s cross-cultural contact without insulating both sides from conflict which however, is a social fact and reality of all social relations. Drawing from the foregoing, the study argues that there is conflict of culturally derived identity interest among returning and settler’s migrants in first contact like in the case of Farmers-Herders, however, is largely a major conflicts driver that endangers sense of patriotism needed for national integration. It further argues that interest quest enables national consciousness and cultural chauvinism and that determines access and denial. However, while a lot of researches have gone into Farmers-Herders contact and conflicts, little of the sociocultural context of their interactions is known in northeast geopolitical zone of Nigeria. Hence, the focus of this study is to examine the sociocultural perspective of farmers-herders conflict as a challenge to national integration. Using Frustration-Aggression theory as framework, the exploratory research adopted qualitative approach to gather data via the conduct of 18 in-depth and 18 key informant interviews on purposively selected respondents two each from the 18 senatorial zones of six states in in North East Nigeria.

This research paper explores the impact of sociological perspectives on the relationship between natural resources and conflicts. From these theoretical perspectives, many fundamental sources of conflict over natural resources are identified and defined. This research takes the approach of a case study in which the researchers investigate and analyze the sources of conflict happening in the Darfur region of Sudan. This case study explores the demographic changes, economic development, and social inequality among some factors contributing to conflict over resources in this region. The research findings demonstrated that various factors play a vital role in the availability of natural resources, which is the main reason sides other reasons flaring conflict in the Darfur region in Sudan. These factors are related to climate change, destruction of ecosystems, immigration, demographic change, and political changes. Even though various factors could impact the conflict of resources in the Darfur region in Sudan, these researchers focused in this research paper on the sociological perspective only.

Circumstances related to the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in many challenges for all entities constituting the education system in Poland. The article aims to present the specific character of managing education and the teaching team in this demanding unusual reality. Contemporary principals and managers of various levels of education, often burdened with a multitude and diversity of tasks and requirements imposed on their role and the organisation of work of the managed entity, regardless of the circumstances of management, require and expect adequate support. The article reviews current empirical research on the problem of the functioning of schools in the pandemic, including such aspects as the situation of teachers, principals, students and their parents. The results are set within the practical, day-to-day management of education, focusing on the implementation of statutory tasks and the circumstances of cooperation between the principal and the staff team (e.g., concerning communication, fulfilment of needs, conflict resolution). Reference has also been made to own empirical research dedicated to managerial talent in education and the specific character of conflict management in an educational institution.

Religion is perceived by several scholars as a source of conflict, violence, destruction and cruelty, despite all of these, a lot of people still believe in religion, they regard religion as source of peace, harmony, compassion, love and tolerance. So far as role of Islam in peace building and conflict resolution are concerned, Islam is no different from other religions, it also advocates same virtues as other religions do. But academic discourse on the subject largely identifies Islam with violence and conflict. This study is humble effort to illuminate those social capital that Islam has for establishing peace and resolving conflict, in the same time, this paper also examines Islamic approach toward peace building and conflict resolution by contextualizing Islamic texts as major source on the subject.

The article discusses the concept of “meaning-making” and age crises as one of the main categories of psychology, and their relationship with the humanities. Existing scientific developments do not pay enough attention to the study of conscious motives and meaning in adults. The practical relevance of this problem is determined, on the one hand, by dynamic processes in the education system, on the other hand - the need to increase life experience, improve the quality of life in general. The article presents a semantic model of the process of meaning-making. The system of meaning-making is connected with the educational system, which includes the semantic sphere. The structure of the system of meaningmaking is the interaction of objects of social development of ways of thinking, views, and cultural activities. The article also describes the concept of age crisis and how it depends on meaning-making. Age development to a new qualitatively specific stage of meaning-making is characterized by abrupt psychological changes in a person’s life. The processes and psychological features of meaningmaking of adults is studied in the current uncertainty of the social, economic, and political situation which forces a person to constantly determine their position and view of the world. The solution of this important question is primarily associated with the activity of a person’s consciousness, which is aimed at identifying the meanings of ongoing events, the constant search for new meanings on the basis of which it would be possible to determine one’s place and vital role in the changing reality. It is found that meaning-making of a personality, its clear awareness, and its reliability are determined by viability, professional, family, and age self-determination in life, which depends on an individual, their life position, sociopsychological, and social maturity and activity. Based on the empirical study, it is concluded that age largely determines the importance of life values and spheres for a person, the level of realization of value orientations, the level of motivation and the level of self-actualization of the adult personality.

The Contemporary Reception of the Class Struggle – to What Extension the Marxism Impacted on XXth-century’s Conceptions and is it Valid until Today?

The aim of this paper is to compare the Karl Marx’s theory of classes fighting to influenced by it a neo-marxist conception of Ralf Dahrendorf concerning conflicts and arguing with a theory of social system elaborated by Talcott Parsons. Such an arrangement mostly enables answering the question in what extension the conceptions of a XIXth – century philosopher and an economist remain up-to date in the following century. In the second part of deductions the evolution of that term will be presented in a form of showing as examples the followers of the mentioned thinkers, because contemporarily the term of classes fighting is used not only by Marxists, but also by the members of feministic movements such as Pierre Bourdieu and representatives of organizations which fight for a protection of the environment, among others Murray Bookchin. Such different points of view will be shown and compared in this paper, which will lead to answering the question in what extension the thoughts of Karl Marx influence XXth-century philosophy and if they are still up-to-date.

Migration processes in Sub-Saharan Africa

The peculiarities of migration flows in Sub-Saharan Africa, the appearance of conflicts and the process of their arrangement are described in the article. The author examines the main migration trends, reasons, directions, specific features of migration in this region, attempts to show the intercommunication between migration and conflict on the example of the region and determines the degree of mutual influence. The author focuses on the fact that Sub-Saharan Africa is a complex structural system consisting of politically independent elements that frequently interact according to the orderly process. The elements of the system such as states, IGOs, NGOs and politicians cooperate with each other in public relations, create its structure and strengthen the system’s integrity.

Trying to explain the term and essence of hybrid wars

Russian-Ukrainian conflict has contributed to the spread in the media and politics the term hybrid war. The purpose of this article is to encourage researchers to reflect on the pertinence of the use of the term and on the need to clarify it. The most important question highlighted in the course of analysis, lean toward determining of characteristics that would allow state clearly what kind of conflicts, using what techniques and from which point, you may to be called hybrid war