Syndicate: New Balkan Politics

[Melentie Pandilovski <mpandil@soros.org.mk>]

LAUNCHING AN ACADEMIC QUARTERLY ON-LINE JOURNAL
NEW BALKAN POLITICS
http://www.newbalkanpolitics.org.mk

New Balkan Politics, is the first Macedonian on-line journal in the area
of social sciences. 
A group of scholars, are responsible for the launching of this journal.
Its primary goal is to cover topics in the arenas of political theory
and international relations (security, defense, ethnopolitical conflicts,
etc.), in Macedonia and, more specifically, the Balkans. 

Unlike similar journals that cover analogous themes, New Balkan Politics, will have a multidisciplinary character,
and will strive to create a better understanding of contemporary,
democratic processes in the Balkans. The primary function of this
Journal is to offer academic analyses on the region from a comparative
point of view thus, encouraging different points of view and new
perceptions. Each issue will focus on one central topic to further
promote the aforementioned function and to address the complex and
delicate topics concerning the Balkans, in both a theoretical and
historical manner.   

New Balkan Politics will offer an opportunity to analyze and to debate topics and issues concerning the Balkans
that will inevitable need to be reassessed and evaluated. Due to an
increasingly interrelated world, these pressing issues will be examined
in relation to global development and, more importantly, to European
integration. 

 This Journal is emerging at a time when there is a newfound interest in the economical, political, both nationally 
and internationally, and scientific developments in the Balkans.
Unfortunately, this newfound attention is due to the tragedies that the
Yugoslav nations have endured throughout the last ten years:
misunderstandings, ethnic conflicts, wars, refugee crises, material and
spiritual destruction. Thus, giving the rest of the world a reason to
label the Balkans as an area of endemic instability.

All scientific and political groups in the world that collect and exchange information and analyses on the Balkans
cannot possibly be listed. Currently, many universities now offer
courses concentrating on the state of affairs in the Balkans. As a
result of these courses and the numerous academicians who have devoted
their entire careers to the Balkan Issue, have published articles
concerning the Balkans during the last several years. 

It is unfortunate that political scientists from the Balkans have never had the time or the opportunity to tell their ?tory.?
At any rate, it is absurd that others have shown a greater interest in
affairs concerning this region than we ourselves have. On that note, any
possibility, like the one that New Balkan Politics is offering, for an
open discussion about the current state of our country and future
developments must be seized upon. This is absolutely necessary because
one of the main reasons for the conflicts in the states of the former
Yugoslavia was the ignorance of the people who, for a long time, lived
in a closed world, knowing only one side of the ?ruth.?

Each day, there are many opportunities, such as New Balkan Politics, to exchange opinions and to participate
in open debates concerning significant issues with members of the
academic world from the Balkan States. These opportunities will help to
foster relationships between members of the academic and political
arenas. As these relationships develop, they can join together to face
and to overcome the prejudices from the past and to recognize that they
have a great deal in common; the most important being that all Balkan
societies become democratic, prosperous and open. Such societies will be
able to understand and accept the new European spirit of cooperation and
integration. 

New Balkan Politics surfaces at a time when three magazines concerning social sciences in Macedonia - Perceptions
Dialogue and Balkan Forum - have ceased to exist for a number of
different reasons. The people whose work is connected with social
sciences in Macedonia have nowhere to publish their views and research,
or to compare their work with those of others in the process of
verification. We should not allow that to happen. In this day and age,
technological developments offer a rapid exchange of information and the
world (at least the developed countries) is slowly becoming a?lobal
village.?This on-line journal, New Balkan Politics, will serve two main
purposes. One, to expand Macedonian and Balkan media space by providing
an opportunity to incite debates in the field of social sciences since
the on-line form is so easily accessible and two, to increase the amount
of information released from the Balkans, in order to, attract a new
circle of readers as well as authors. Every electronic magazine, this
being no exception, has an Internet site that transcends local
boundaries and enters the world of strong competition of ideas and
knowledge. 

This issue was supported by OSI-Macedonia and Ministry of Culture of
Macedonia. 

Maleska Mirjana
Editor 

-------------------------------------------------------
Melentie Pandilovski
Director
Contemporary Arts Center  - Skopje
Orce Nikolov 109, 1000 Skopje
Republic of Macedonia
Tel/Fax: +389.2.133.541
Tel/Fax: +389.2.214.495
Mobile: +389.70.217.075
http://www.scca.org.mk
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