A Pólusok folyóirat célja a politikatudomány, valamint a nemzetközi tanulmányok területén elért tudományos eredmények közlése, az érintett diszciplínákhoz köthető szakmai fórumok gazdagítása. A Pólusok szerkesztősége mindezek mellett feladatának tekinti, hogy a politológiai és nemzetközi kapcsolatok területéhez kapcsolódó hazai szakmai közélet aktív alakítója legyen, beleértve a szélesebb nyilvánosság elérését is. A folyóirat a Pécsi Tudományegyetem, Politikatudományi és Nemzetközi Tanulmányok Tanszéke és a Pólusok Társadalomtudományi Egyesület gondozásában jelenik meg.
UNIVERSITY OF PÉCS, FACULTY OF HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES, DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
A Political Reaction to a Military Defeat: the French State (1940-1944) and its Legacy
In 1940, the French army suffered a devastating defeat at the hands of the German armed forces. This unexpected event led to the formation of a new government under Marshal Philippe Pétain. The French government moved to Vichy, where the legislature granted Pétain extraordinary powers. He used these powers to collaborate with Nazi Germany in foreign policy and to implement the regime change known as the 'national revolution' in domestic policy. The new regime sought to create an authoritarian, anti-democratic, corporatist, rural-centric political order, which placed great emphasis on the cult of personality around Pétain, promoted anti-Semitism and sought to transform French society and the economy along conservative, right-wing lines. The radical nature of the political transformation of the Vichy regime ultimately failed, largely due to the evolution of the war. Nevertheless, many key aspects of the regime's policies continued to have a major impact on post-war France, and some of these are still in effect today. These reforms contributed to the political, economic and social modernisation of the country and therefore nuance the perception of the Vichy regime in the history of modern France.
Copyright (c) 2025 POLARITIES https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
Changing Central Asia: The Imperative of Pragmatism
After the independence of Central Asian countries, the great powers did not pay particular attention to the region, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan began to build their states and nations without external influences. One of the most important features of Central Asia today is the change; the countries of the region are going through a major transformation as, amid the changes in world politics and economy, Central Asian countries have a strong desire for development, modernization and connectivity. All major and middle powers are active in Central Asia, including China, Russia, the United States, Europe, but also Turkey and India. In terms of geopolitical and strategic influence, China, Russia and the United States are undoubtedly the most important. Also inspired by the complicated nature of relations between great powers, multi-vector diplomacy in the field of foreign policy is a common feature of Central Asian countries. Despite tensions between China, the United States, Russia, and Europe, Central Asian countries have formed strategic partnerships or strategic cooperation with each of them. Pragmatism is an important feature of the diplomacy of the Central Asian states, which is based on the principle of being able to realize real benefits for their country.
Copyright (c) 2024 POLARITIES http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
Latin American territorial disputes and China’s growing influence
Latin American countries managed to avoid major wars after their liberation from the colonial system. At the same time, smaller, local wars and territorial conflicts have affected the region, often creating a tense interstate atmosphere and delineating areas of geographically disputed affiliation. In the 21st century, the controversial territorial disputes of the 19th and 20th centuries continue to shape the re-gional dynamics of interstate relations. Among the numerous examples, this paper examines the land disputes between Chile and Bolivia (Atacama, Anto-fagasta), Argentina and the United Kingdom (Las Malvinas or Falkland Islands), Brazil and Uruguay (El Rincón de Artigas, Ilha Brasileira, Masoller), Costa Rica and Nicaragua (Isla Calero), Guayana and Ven-ezuela (Essequibo), Guatemala and Belize (Cayo, Belize, Stann Creek and the Toledo Territories). It explores the history and origins of these interstate conflicts, describes possible solutions, including measures taken to date to resolve them, and argues that existing problems with colonial roots are being exacerbated by the race for resources and global markets, with a particular focus on China’s role in regional geopolitical realities. The analysis con-cludes that these disputes are unlikely to be re-solved in the near future, despite the policies and efforts already undertaken.
Copyright (c) 2024 POLARITIES https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
Cyprus is an important area for Russian foreign policy, as developments in the Eastern Mediterranean, where the island is located, affect Moscow’s strategic interests. This article analyzes and interprets the diplomatic, political, economic, energy, and geostrategic aspects of Russian foreign policy towards Cyprus. It identifies the motives behind Russian behavior towards the Republic of Cyprus (RoC) and concludes that, despite generally good diplomatic and friendly relations, the two states have differing geostrategic interests. Given that the defense of Russia’s national interests, in relation to Cyprus and the Eastern Mediterranean, is a priority for Moscow, the article concludes with assessments of future trends, including the developments in the Russian-Ukrainian war and its consequences, which have negatively affected the relations between the two states.
Central European regional cooperation and small states interest-advocacy in the European Union
Regional cooperation is a traditional tool of small state interest-advocacy as they can amplify the voice of states with individually small influence. There are many regional groups in Central Europe, a region rich in small states, whose stated aim is to enhance cooperation amongst its members at the EU level. This paper analyses the role of five regional groups (Visegrád Group, Slavkov format, Salzburg Forum, Central European Defence Cooperation, Central Five) in the intra-EU diplomatic endeavours of four Central European small states (Austria, Czechia, Hungary, Slovakia) after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The results shows that only the Visegrád Group and the Slavkov format has any meaningful role in the interest-advocacy of the analysed small states in the EU.
Discourses of political participation among young Hungarians
Different macro- and meso-level theories of youth political participation focus on who participates in political action and why. However, little is known about how young people interpret these forms of participation and whether their actual participation is structured along these interpretations. Our study aims to show what discourses of political participation can be identified in Hungary and which are specific to young people. This question is particularly relevant in the pandemic that emerged after COVID-19, which confined young people's everyday interactions and political activism to the online space for almost two years. According to our ‘Asteroida Effects’ hypothesis, new forms of political participation may have emerged, which may have reinterpreted the previous dynamics between online and offline participation. After the third wave of the pandemic and during the fourth wave, we conducted six focus group discussions and eight semi-structured online interviews, which we analysed through discourse analysis. Our results show that, at least in part, young people have redefined political participation due to the asteroid impact and have included communication about it in the meaning field of political participation.