Bøger udgivet af Ibidem Press

American-born Larissa Babij is at home in Kyiv when Russia launches its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. Her grandparents left Ukraine amidst the violence of World War II, and nearly 80 years later, she is fleeing the advancing Russian army. A Kind of Refugee chronicles the first year of all-out war in Ukraine through vivid dispatches that Babij sent to readers abroad. In cities flooded with refugees and bustling with humanitarian aid efforts, or while supporting an innovative military unit making DIY drones, Babij examines Ukrainian cultures of cooperation. Reflecting on her American upbringing, she ponders the premium that Western societies--shaped by the traumatic history of WW II--place on security. When she returns to Kyiv, sirens, Russian missile strikes, and long periods of darkness organize her days. This moving account of taking responsibility for your home and your history concludes with several essays on theater published between 2015 and 2021. Written with a fierce love for Ukraine and its people, this book is a testament to the courage of ordinary people committed to freedom while defending their homeland.

On Bonifratrow Street is the story of how Michael Katz survived the Holocaust as a Jewish boy hiding 'in plain sight' on the streets of Warsaw after escaping from Janowska concentration camp in Lviv (Lwow). He moved to Warsaw under an assumed name and joined the Polish resistance. Michael fought in the Warsaw Uprising. He was one of the remaining group of 200 people to evacuate Warsaw. This book tells his exceptional story.

David Satter is one of the world's leading commentators on Russia. The two-volume book series Never Speak to Strangers is a collection of his articles and essays. Volume two includes articles about the Russia-Ukraine war and argues that this tragic conflict was preventable. David Satter's writings and interviews describe the psychological roots of the conflict. Picking up where the first volume left off, the second volume of Never Speak to Strangers includes material on the historical and psychological roots of Russian aggression, the Yeltsin and Putin regimes, and, in particular, Russia's war against Ukraine. David Satter shows that change could come to Russia in the wake of a defeat in Ukraine, but external events will not be enough to divert Russia permanently from foreingn aggression and internal repression. For that, what is required is something more fundamental, a recognition that world order must be based on universal moral values and a rejection once and for all of Russia's "special way".

Since 1997, FORUM has been an integral part of the landscape of European studies. In addition to contemporary history, it offers insights into the history of ideas and reviews books on Central and Eastern European history. It offers more than just history--for instance, interdisciplinary discussions by political scientists, literary, legal, and economic scholars, and philosophers. FORUM sees itself as a bridge between East and West. Through the translation and publication of texts and contributions from Russian, Polish, and Czech researchers, it offers the Western reader access to the scholarly discourse of Eastern Europe. The 'short' 20th century is one of the best-documented eras in history. Nevertheless, it holds more mysteries than many periods of antiquity or the Middle Ages of which we have only sparse relics. One of the biggest mysteries is the question of the causes of the collapse of civilization in the first half of the century. In Germany as well as in Russia, regimes came to power invoking the implementation of utopias that had been dreamt up during the 'long' 19th century yet which had been considered unrealizable. Now, it turned out, even the most radical utopian blueprint could be put into place. This development, intertwined with an extraordinarily deep crisis of European democracy, did not happen overnight. It had been looming for a long time. There had even been several prescient voices heralding the upcoming crisis--trailing away without being noticed. Volume 19, Issue 1 of FORUM recognizes some of these unheard prophets and scrutinizes their writings.

Recognition and Ethics in World Literature is a critical comparative study of contemporary world literature, focusing on the importance of the ethical turn (or return) in literary theory. The book examines the ethical engagement of novels by Amitav Ghosh, Chimamanda Adichie, Caryl Phillips, Kazuo Ishiguro, Zadie Smith, and J. M. Coetzee, exploring the overlap and divergence between Levinasian/Derridean and Aristotelian ethics. Recognitions and emotional responses are integral to the unfolding of ethical concerns, and the ethics they explore are often marked by the complexity and impurity characteristic of the tragic. Recognition is particularly suitable for the concerns of world literature authors in its interconnection of the universal and the particular--a binary that has been crucial in postcolonialism and remains important for the wider field of world literature. This study builds its analysis around three broad themes: religion, the memory of violence, and the human.

This book is a comprehensive account of the Belzec death camp in Poland, which was the first death camp to use static gas chambers as part of the Aktion Reinhardt mass murder program. It covers the construction and the development of the mechanisms of mass murder. The story is painstakingly told from all sides--the Jewish inmates, the perpetrators, and the Polish inhabitants of the village of Belzec, who lived near the factory of death. A major part of this work is the Jewish Roll of Remembrance, which covers the few survivors and the lives of some of the Jews among the many hundreds of thousands who perished in Belzec. The book is richly illustrated with historical and modern photographs, some of which are previously unpublished, as well as documents and drawings.

Solar power has taken a journey from what was once considered the lunatic fringe to mainstream society and industry. Looking specifically at the Solex project in Carnarvon, Western Australia, which pioneered the harvest of solar energy, this book offers an introduction to the development of renewable energy and the rise of dispersed, embedded solar energy systems in Australia in the early 2000s. Fullarton shows how a practical demonstration of innovative existing technology can have an incredible impact on a national scale. The ideas behind the Solex project were adopted by the broader community and were eventually taken up enthusiastically by the general population of Australia. Analyzing government and utility policies throughout the 2000s, the book traces how ambivalence was followed by wholehearted incentives to the roll-out of alternative energy and then by active opposition to alternative energy in favor of traditional fossil fuel as government philosophies changed.

"Like David, I am battling against a Goliath that has almost immeasurable means and powerful allies. I don't think I can win, I just want to be heard. No dictatorship lasts forever, and if my contribution can sooner or later bring about its downfall, then I will have achieved what I set out to do." The man waging this unequal war is Viktor Khrapunov. He used to be mayor of Almaty, Kazakhstan's largest city, and the country's Energy Minister before he was forced into exile. From Switzerland, where he now lives with his family, he brings charges against the rule of Nursultan Nazarbayev, which will soon reach its twenty-fifth year. Nazarbayev, initially welcomed as a young, dynamic president, has become a reckless and unpredictable dictator over the years. From the abusive privatization of the country's mineral resources and thriving corruption to personal intrigues and the stone-cold elimination of political opponents--Khrapunov's account of the criminal wheeling and dealing of this self-styled 'ruler of the nation' tells it how it is. Based on Khrapunov's insider knowledge from the hallways of global power, his story is also a revelation of Western apathy towards a brutal dictatorial regime. This gripping autobiographical narrative helps the reader understand how Kazakhstan has developed politically from the collapse of the Soviet Union to the modern day, and how it can blossom into a democratic state.

Izabela Kazejak examines the process of re-establishing Jewish communities in two cities: Wroclaw, which passed from Germany to Poland in 1945, and L'viv, which passed from Poland to Soviet Ukraine. She compares the similarities and differences of the two regimesʼ policies, and why the effort to create self-identified Jewish yet loyal Communist communities did not succeed. The first chapter looks into the pre-war history and wartime destruction of Jewish communities in Breslau, Germany, and Lwów, Poland. Subsequent chapters trace the efforts of the post-war regimes, supported by those Jews who had survived the Holocaust and chose to remain in Eastern Europe, to reconstitute Jewish life up to 1968 in the case of Wroclaw and the 1970s in the case of L'viv. The author explores and analyzes several context in relation to this process: the official policies towards Jews of the government of the Polish People's Republic and the government of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic; the aims and effects of these official policies; the implementation of these central policies at the local level; the national contexts of Poland and Soviet Ukraine; popular and official antisemitism and its effect on the post-war Jewish communities; and finally, the effects of the economic and social modernization carried out by the Communist regimes on the development of the Jewish communities.

This is the third installment in a series of JSPPS discussions on the conceptualization of the ideology of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists during World War II. The sections in this series are not classical assemblies of peer-reviewed research papers on a particular theme, but constitute a round-table-like debate consisting of interactive interventions by senior and junior scholars from the disciplines of comparative fascism and Ukrainian nationalism. The discussion originated from two intriguing conceptual articles on interpretative and classificatory issues in the comparative study of European and, in particular, East European permutations of interwar and wartime right-wing radicalism, as well as on the utility of an application of new overarching taxa to them.

There are certain parallels between the operations Vladimir Putin initiated in the wake of the Ukraine crisis of 2014 and the approach Stalin took in the region during the Second World War.Stalin's ruthless use of scorched earth tactics, the deliberate provocation of reprisals of the occupiers against the civilian population, the destruction of their own villages, the chaotic collection of taxes in kind from the population, accompanied by everyday looting, benders, fornication and violence, fratricidal internal conflicts, the use of doping, the operational use of bacteriological weapons, and even cannibalism--all this was not a random price for the massive bloodshed and no spontaneous response of the population to the brutality of the German occupation in the 1940s. These were, as Alexander Gogun shows in his historiographical investigation, planned or consciously accepted phenomena and peculiarities of Stalin's warfare tactics.A book that makes an important contribution to the historical context of the current crisis in Ukraine.Es finden sich Parallelen zwischen den von Wladimir Putin im Zuge der Ukraine-Krise 2014 initiierten Operationen in der Ukraine und dem dortigen Vorgehen Stalins während des zweiten Weltkriegs. Stalins rücksichtslose Anwendung der Taktik der verbrannten Erde, das absichtliche Provozieren von Repressalien der Besatzer gegen die Zivilisten, die Vernichtung eigener Dörfer, die chaotische Eintreibung von Naturalsteuern von der Bevölkerung, begleitet von alltäglichen Plünderungen, Besäufnissen, Unzucht und Gewalt, brudermörderische innere Konflikte, die Benutzung von Doping, der operative Einsatz bakteriologischer Waffen und sogar Kannibalismus - all das war in den 1940er Jahren kein zufälliger Preis für das massenhafte Blutvergießen und auch keine spontane Antwort des Volkes auf die Brutalität der deutschen Besatzungsherrschaft. Dies waren, wie Alexander Gogun in seiner vorliegenden historiographischen Untersuchung aufzeigt, geplante oder bewusst in Kauf genommene Erscheinungen und Besonderheiten der Kriegsführung Stalins.Ein Buch, das einen wichtigen Beitrag zur historischen Einordnung der aktuellen Ukraine-Krise leistet.

This engaging and insightful book is the first historical study in English portraying the lives and fates of Czech women. The seven life stories, ranging from the late 19th century to the present day, expose the often cruel political history of Bohemia (19th century), the Czech lands in Czechoslovakia (20th century), and the Czech Republic (20th-21st century) through the eyes of prominent women whose acts and deeds on behalf of their fellow citizens remain unforgotten in the Czech collective mind. The three chapters and four oral history interviews offer a captivating insight into how the situation of Czech women in society has changed during a most eventful period of history. This book was preceded by a volume on Slovak women. The two volumes are separate entities in their own right, but together provide the reader with a comprehensive picture of women's lives in the Czech lands and Slovakia, stressing the distinct political circumstances Czech and Slovak women have faced in recent history.

""The author has written a clear but scholarly account of the main political developments of the 'long twentieth century, ' from 1894 to 2008. It is especially good in treating Russia's nationalities issues and the period from Gorbachev's assumption of power in 1985 until the end of the Putin presidency in 2008.""-Walter G. Moss, ""The Russian Review"", on David R. Marples, ""Russia in the 20th Century: the Illusion of Stability"" (2011)

The 1967 'Summer of Love' brought all sorts of unusual people and events to London but perhaps nothing so extraordinary as the Congress on the Dialectics of Liberation. The congress, organized by the American 'anti-psychiatrist' Joe Berke, with help from Leon Redler, R.D. Laing, David Cooper, and a host of students, ex-students, psychiatric 'patients', and secretaries, took place at the Roundhouse in Chalk Farm Road over two weeks during July, and was designed to 'demystify human violence in all its forms, the social systems from which it emanates, and to explore new forms of action.' But that bald summary of the purpose of the congress, accurate as it is, hardly does justice to its immediate achievements or to its long-term significance. Mingling with the many then famous speakers: Allen Ginsberg, Herbert Marcuse, Paul Goodman, Stokely Carmichael, Gregory Bateson, C.L.R. James, Julian Beck, Emmett Grogan, Thich Nhat Hanh, Paul Sweezy, John Gerassi, and Lucien Goldmann, were many younger people who arrived with their own ideas and who themselves went onto distinguished and influential careers in the arts, politics and academia. One was the American artist Carolee Schneemann, who devised a happening which was performed on the last day of the congress. Another was the British psychoanalyst and feminist Juliet Mitchell. A third was the American feminist, Angela Davis. This book, which is in part a biography of Joe Berke, traces the Congress from its origins in the United States to its major outgrowth The Anti-University of London, and concludes with some brief reflections on the congress's relevance to today's 'revolutionary' identity-based politics.

Charlotta Palmstierna Einarsson takes a closer look at the often peculiar, sometimes incongruous physical movements and gestures that characters perform in Samuel Beckett's drama, viz. mis-movements. Sensitivity to the embodied aspects of life is topical in Beckett's drama, but such mis-movements underwrite the intrinsic connections between sense and sense-making to safeguard an ethics of interpretation founded on embodied cognition. Tracing Beckett's aesthetics of gesture back to its phenomenological and embodied roots, Einarsson suggests that the use of mis-movements in Beckett's drama is a methodological solution to the predicament of expression that exposes the injustices done by language to audiences as embodied knowers. More than interpretative dilemmas, mis-movements offer conduits for spectators to re-connect with embodied experience. Thus, they are the poetic means through which an alternative ethics of interpretation begins to emerge.

Though informed by case studies conducted in Ukraine, this book transcends its country-specific scope. It explains why informality in governance is not necessarily transitory or temporary but a constant in most political systems. The book discusses self-protective mechanisms, responses to incomplete or unfocused policy making, and strategies employed by individuals, classes, and communities to respond to unusual demands. The book argues that when state or company expectations exceed normative behavior, informal behavior continues to thrive. New tactics help cope with the reality of governance. Informality also challenges the values imposed by power through attitudes and behaviors that take place "beyond" or "in spite of" the state.

This timely book provides a detailed analysis of Russia's national interests in the Arctic region. It analyzes Russia's domestic discourse on the Far North's role among national priorities as well as Moscow's bi- and multilateral relations with major regional players, including energy, environmental, socio-cultural, and military policies in the Arctic. In contrast to the internationally widespread stereotype of Russia as a revisionist power in the Far North, this book argues that Moscow tries to pursue a double-sided strategy in the region. On the one hand, Russia aims at defending legitimate economic interests in the region. On the other hand, Moscow is open to co-operation with foreign partners that are willing to partake in exploiting the Arctic natural resources. The general conclusion is that in the foreseeable future Moscow's strategy in the region will be predictable and pragmatic rather than aggressive or spontaneous. The authors argue that in order to consolidate the soft power pattern of Russia's behavior a proper international environment in the Arctic should be created by common efforts. Other regional players should demonstrate their responsibility and willingness to solve existing and potential problems on the basis of international law.

Issue 2023:1 of In Statu Nascendi comprises, amongst others, the following articles: - Ethics of AI and Robotics from a non Anthopomorphical and Zoomorphical Perspective- The Self and Mental Health Studies: A Postmodern Introduction- Gödel's non-completeness theorems as hermeneutic questioning in Mathematics- Integrating Ontology in statu nascendi in the Main Currents of International Relations Theory Content analysis through text mining: an empirical approach of understanding international political integration theories in practice

After their Shreds of War: Fates from the Donbas Frontline 2015-2019, Eperjesi and Kachura uncover in this second volume effects of the illegal annexation of Crimea by Russia. Oleksandr managed to visit the peninsula not long after its occupation by Russian troops. While doing interviews with local people, he was threatened by the authorities yet managed to escape with his exclusive stories of teachers and students, pensioners, children and their parents, market vendors and businessmen, homeless people, health care employees and their patients, the so called "cotton wool people," and Ukrainian patriots. Many of them told him about how hopeful they were in early 2014, and how disappointed they have become as their expectations were not met by the "Russian world." This concerns the banking system of Crimea, propaganda and censorship of the Russian state, and failed tourist seasons. People still living or somehow related to Crimea tell us about the dramatic days of the illegal annexation. They explain what led to the tragedy and what mistakes were made by the Ukrainian authorities. Ordinary people, soldiers, journalists, heroes and traitors, emigrants, Crimean Tatars, Russian soldiers, Cossacks and the members of the so called "Crimean Self-Defense" disclose how they contributed to the historic events on the peninsula. Finally, the famous Crimean film director Oleh Sentsov shares with us how he managed to survive his illegal imprisonment by Russia and what impact it has had on his life.

This book analyzes security developments in Lithuania since 1988, a period marked by liberation from nearly fifty years of Soviet occupation, the collapse of the USSR, and the integration of the country into NATO. Furmonavicius focuses on how Lithuania achieved liberation and how the country's integration into the European and Transatlantic security framework has influenced both its own and transatlantic security development.

Drawing on theories of political myth and concepts of nationalism, Jardar Østbø analyzes the content and ideological function of the myth of Russia as a Third Rome. Through case studies of four prominent nationalist intellectuals, Østbø shows how this messianic myth was used to reinvent Russia and its allegedly rightful place in the world after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Though it exists in many radically different versions, the Third Rome myth in general embodies particularism and rabid anti-Westernism. At best, it portrays Russia as an essentially isolationist country. At worst, it casts the country as superior to all other nations, divinely elected to rule the world.

On 24 February 2022, Vladimir Putin ordered a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. He declared a 'special military operation', expecting a quick victory. The Ukrainian army countered with a spirited defence that foiled his political aims. Putin's special operation descended into a brutal slogging match of massacres. The horror of Bucha, rapes, looting, and the mass kidnap of children were discovered in the wake of Russian retreats. Reversals shattered Russia's army, forcing Putin to unleash his bandit hordes--Chechen thugs and pardoned murderers of the Wagner Group. Russia's artillery, the God of War, continued to hammer Ukrainian culture, cities, and civilians. Mariupol was devastated in the turmoil of mechanized genocide. In the first year, western experts filled social media with analogies of irrelevant wars and false predictions of Ukraine's progress. The authors of this volume challenged institutional orthodoxy and pushed back against this outpouring of social media. They identified a chilling narrative of existential warfare and the struggle for survival. Putin's War--Russian Genocide will provoke intense debate, for it uncovers the latitude of Putin's violence. Readers will learn that Putin's and Russia's war comes from a powerful urge to destroy Ukraine. This is the greatest horror of the 21st Century.

The war in Ukraine is putting Germanyʹs political and economic actions to the test. For decades, Ukraine, the second-largest state in Europe, was overlooked and Russia was courted. With fatal consequences. Germany has failed, as Sabine Adler states, an expert on Eastern Europe. Her analysis focuses not only on Ukraine and the current war, but above all on Germanyʼs role--in economic, political, and media terms--in relation to the country invaded by Russia. As a long-standing and clear-sighted observer, she gives a critical assessment: Political omissions, lobbyism, double standards, and a mendacious pacifism were dominant for long periods. Time for the West to learn from the bad example of Germany and to follow a sensible policy!

Ukraine has often been called a laboratory when it comes to global challenges in the spheres of environment, information, and security. The site of the worst nuclear catastrophe in history, the primary target of the Kremlin's troll farms and disinformation campaigns, the country to spark the collapse of the Soviet Union and to stand up to its neo-imperialist successor: Ukraine has been the first to face and, at times, set in motion processes that have worldwide consequences. After Russia's full-scale invasion has compromised the global system of security, the value of Ukrainian knowledge and experience can no longer be dismissed. The urgency to learn with and from Ukraine is now existential for the rest of the world. This unique collection presents creative nonfiction essays by emerging authors from Ukraine and the UK which employ cross-cultural dialog and the art of storytelling to open up Ukrainian perspectives on the challenges facing humanity worldwide.

This timely book seeks to contribute to the debate on the transfer of values, rules, and practices by European actors to former Soviet countries. The actors in focus include multilateral organizations, such as the European Union, the Council of Europe, and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, as well as European governments and non-governmental organizations. The contributions in this collection address different aspects of the export or transfer of values, such as democracy, human rights, and the rule of law, as well as rules and practices in the fields of education and migration management, examining the motives, mechanisms, and effects of European engagement.

This book delves into the complex and often contradictory relations between the Southern Caucasus and European Union (EU). It covers the three periods of this relationship: the early contacts in the 1990s, the European Neighborhood Policy (ENP), and the Eastern Partnership Programme (EaP) that started in 2009. The book employs Europeanization theory and uses a mixed rationalist-constructivist framework as a complementary analytical instrument to decipher the two sides' behavior. The study's findings show that the complex relationship between the EU and Caucasian states cannot be explained through either a purely constructivist or a purely rationalist theoretical framework. Both, material and social motives are discernible. Thus, rationalism and constructivism are complementary tools for explaining the relations between the EU and South Caucasus countries. The rationalist perspective explains actors' preferences towards maximizing material utility and calculations by EU policymakers as to which strategy is most likely to advance the immediate interests of the EU in a given situation. This argument needs to be supplemented, however, with insights from constructivism. This approach emphasizes the universal nature of the values of the EU which are linked to internal dynamics in the EU and manifest themselves in the Union's relations with neighboring countries. The book finally illustrates how rational considerations, related to Russia's political and economic activities in the region, have determined the stances of the South Caucasus countries towards the EU.

Projects can go over budget, exceed deadlines, or deliver restricted features and quality, which can result in economic damage for companies and their clients. Difficulties arise at the source, and established metrics and management methods slow projects down by creating conflicts in operations and decision making. Introducing a radically new approach that features simple, constraint-oriented management; clear, robust priorities; company-wide optimization; and a focus on speed, this volume shows how to complete more projects with the same amount of resources, reliably deliver all projects to specs, and significantly shorten project lead times.

This book breaks into the black box of Russian cultural diplomacy's ideological underpinnings and modi operandi. Relying on publicly accessible sources such as annual reports, news from official websites, social media posts, and other pertinent materials, the contributors examine the three most significant state-affiliated or full-fledged state institutions operating in this field. Their organization and management, budget and financial details, links to oligarchs, the government and other institutions, most important activities, as well as overall geographical presence are analyzed. The discourses of these organizations during the Russia-Ukraine War, including after 24 February 2022, are given special attention. The collection discloses how the Kremlin's foreign propaganda institutions support the Russian authoritarian regime and its expansionist policies.

This book investigates the making of Ukraine's foreign policy towards the European Union and Russia between February 2014 and February 2015. To contextualize the events of the first year of the Russian-Ukrainian War, Nychyk lays out the history of the EU-Ukraine-Russia triangle since 1991 and draws lessons relevant for the 2022 Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The book is based on her doctoral research and rests on a game-theory-inspired approach to foreign policy analysis. It relies on 38 elite interviews, official documents, and media reports. Nychyk uncovers various mutual misperceptions in EU-Ukraine-Russia relations. Looking at Ukraine's 'side of the story', her analysis shows how Russian assertiveness and the EU's passivity, but also Ukrainian leaders' limited crisis management experience and erroneous policy decisions contributed to worse outcomes for Ukraine. The latter included poor analysis of foreign interlocutors, trust in their good intentions, and corruption. After 2015, a persistence--although with certain changes--of some of these pathologies left Ukraine in a weaker position in the face of Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Why is it that even after two centuries of formal political independence and after the implementation of policies that were supposed to lead them to development, Latin American countries have not managed to overcome underdevelopment, poverty, and dependency? Why are the contradictions inherent to capitalism exacerbated in Latin America, in such a way that this region appears as the denial of the civilising promises inaugurated by capitalist modernity? Why do the asymmetrical relations in the world system and labour super-exploitation tend to deepen in the region, instead of being reduced? Why do the main social processes that challenge the capitalist relations of exploitation and domination take place in the 'periphery' of the system, not in its imperialist core? The essays collected in this book present the answers that Marxist dependency theory has formulated to these and other questions, by highlighting the processes and relations that characterise the heterogeneous deployment of capitalism as a world system and that define the particularities of Latin American dependent capitalism: the super-exploitation of labour-power, unequal exchange, the rupture in the cycle of capital, among others. It also highlights the relevance of the perspective inaugurated by Marxist dependency theory to explain the current problems of Latin America.