1.
Micronation
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Several micronations have issued coins, flags, postage stamps, passports, medals, and other items. These items are rarely accepted outside of their own community but may be sold as novelties to help raise money or collected by enthusiasts, the earliest known micronations date from the beginning of the 19th century. The differences between such Internet micronations, other kinds of social networking groups, and role-playing games are difficult to define. The term micronation to describe those entities dates at least to the 1970s, the term micropatrology is sometimes used to describe the study of both micronations and microstates by micronationalists, some of whom refer to sovereign nation-states as macronations. The term micronation literally means small nation and it is a neologism originating in the mid-1970s to describe the many thousands of small unrecognised state-like entities that have mostly arisen since that time. The term has also come to be used retrospectively to refer to earlier unrecognized entities. Amongst supporters of micronations the term macronation is in use to refer to any internationally recognised sovereign nation-state. Not all micronations are small, some can be rather large, Micronations generally have a number of common features, although these may vary widely. They may have a similar to established sovereign states, including territorial claims, government institutions, official symbols and citizens. Micronations may also issue formal instruments such as stamps, coins, banknotes and passports. The Montevideo Convention was one attempt to create a definition distinguishing between states and non-states. Some micronations meet this definition, while some do not, nine main types of micronations are prevalent, Social, economic, or political simulations. Exercises in personal entertainment or self-aggrandisement, vehicles for the promotion of an agenda. These micronations tend to have a serious intent, and often involve significant numbers of people interested in recreating the past or simulating political or social processes. Nova Roma, a group claiming a membership of several thousand that has minted its own coins, maintains its own wiki. Embassy of Heaven, a Christian church that can be considered a micronation, Grand Duchy of Flandrensis, a Belgian micronation with claims over some territories of Antarctica. The micronation is also a simulation and cultural organization. In 2012, the micronation was composed of 114 citizens from 21 different nationalities, holy Empire of Reunion, a Brazilian micronation founded in 1997 as an online constitutional monarchy simulation
2.
City-state
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A city-state is a sovereign state that consists of a city and its dependent territories. A great deal of consensus exists that the term applies to Singapore, Monaco. A number of small states share similar characteristics, and therefore are sometimes also cited as modern city-states. Occasionally, other states with high population densities, such as San Marino, are also cited. Several non-sovereign cities enjoy a degree of autonomy, and are sometimes considered city-states. Hong Kong and Macau, along with independent members of the United Arab Emirates, most notably Dubai, scholars have classed the Viking colonial cities in medieval Ireland, most importantly Dublin, as city-states. In Cyprus, the Phoenician settlement of Kition was a city-state that existed from around 800 BC until the end of the 4th century BC. The success of regional units coexisting as autonomous actors in loose geographical and cultural unity, as in Italy and Greece. However, such small political entities often survived only for short periods because they lacked the resources to defend themselves against incursions by larger states, thus they inevitably gave way to larger organisations of society, including the empire and the nation-state. In the history of Mainland Southeast Asia, aristocratic groups, Buddhist leaders, the system existed until the 19th century when colonization by European powers, and Thailands resulted in the adoption of the modern concept of statehood. In the Holy Roman Empire the Free Imperial Cities enjoyed a considerable autonomy, some, like the three Hanseatic cities of Bremen, Hamburg and Lübeck, pooled their economic relations with foreign powers and were able to wield considerable diplomatic clout. Under Habsburg rule the city of Fiume had the status of a Corpus separatum, a later city-state, though lacking sovereignty, was West Berlin, being a state legally not belonging to any other state, but ruled by the Western Allies. They allowed – notwithstanding their overlordship as occupant powers – its internal organisation as one state simultaneously being a city, though West Berlin maintained close ties to the West German Federal Republic of Germany, it was legally never part of it. But the idea of leaving the United States proved too radical even in the turmoil of 1861 and was poorly received, the war, and especially conscription, was nevertheless often unpopular in the city, sparking the deadly New York Draft Riots. The neighboring City of Brooklyn, in contrast, was staunchly Unionist, the Free City of Danzig was a semi-autonomous city-state that existed between 1920 and 1939, consisting of the Baltic Sea port of Danzig and nearly 200 towns in the surrounding areas. It was created on 15 November 1920 under the terms of Article 100 of the 1919 Treaty of Versailles after the end of World War I. Its territory of 28 km2 comprised the city of Fiume and rural areas to its north, with a corridor to its west connecting it to Italy, the Shanghai International Settlement was an international zone with its own legal system, postal service, and currency. The Klaipėda Region or Memel Territory was defined by the Treaty of Versailles in 1920 when it was put under the administration of the Council of Ambassadors
3.
Direct democracy
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Direct democracy is a form of democracy in which people decide policy initiatives directly. This differs from the majority of democracies, which are representative democracies. Direct democracy is similar to, but distinct from, representative democracy, two leading forms of direct democracy are participatory democracy and deliberative democracy. Semi direct democracies in which representatives administer day-to-day governance, but the citizens remain the sovereign, the first two forms—referendums and initiatives—are examples of direct legislation. Compulsory referendum subjects the legislation drafted by political elites to a popular vote. This is the most common form of direct legislation, popular referendum empowers citizens to make a petition that calls existing legislation to a citizens vote. Institutions specify the frame for a valid petition and the number of signatures required. This form of direct democracy effectively grants the voting public a veto on laws adopted by the elected legislature, initiatives may be direct or indirect, With the direct initiative, a successful proposition is placed directly on the ballot to be subject to vote. Such a form of initiative is utilized by Switzerland for constitutional amendments. Power of Recall gives the public the power to elected officials from office before the end of their term. Some of the most important modern thinkers who were inspired by the concept of democracy are Cornelius Castoriadis, Hannah Arendt. The earliest known direct democracy is said to be the Athenian democracy in the 5th century BC, although it was not a democracy, women, foreigners. There were only about 30,000 male citizens, but several thousand of them were active in each year. Modern democracies, being representative, not direct, do not resemble the Athenian system, also relevant to the history of direct democracy is the history of Ancient Rome, specifically the Roman Republic, beginning around 509 BC. Rome displayed many aspects of democracy, both direct and indirect, from the era of Roman monarchy all the way to the collapse of the Roman Empire. As to direct democracy, the ancient Roman Republic had a system of citizen lawmaking, or citizen formulation and passage of law, and a citizen veto of legislature-made law. Many historians mark the end of the Republic with the passage of a law named the Lex Titia,27 November 43 BC, modern-era citizen lawmaking began in the towns of Switzerland in the 13th century. In 1847, the Swiss added the statute referendum to their national constitution and they soon discovered that merely having the power to veto Parliaments laws was not enough
4.
Republic
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It is a government where the head of state is not a monarch. Both modern and ancient republics vary widely in their ideology, composition, in the classical and medieval period of Europe, many states were fashioned on the Roman Republic, which referred to the governance of the city of Rome, between it having kings and emperors. The Italian medieval and Renaissance political tradition, today referred to as humanism, is sometimes considered to derive directly from Roman republicans such as Sallust. Republics were not equated with classical democracies such as Athens, but had a democratic aspect, Republics became more common in the Western world starting in the late 18th century, eventually displacing absolute monarchy as the most common form of government in Europe. In modern republics, the executive is legitimized both by a constitution and by popular suffrage, for instance, Article IV of the United States Constitution guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican form of Government. The term originates as the Latin translation of Greek word politeia, cicero, among other Latin writers, translated politeia as res publica and it was in turn translated by Renaissance scholars as republic. The term politeia can be translated as form of government, polity, or regime, and is therefore not always a word for a specific type of regime as the modern word republic is. And also amongst classical Latin, the term republic can be used in a way to refer to any regime. In medieval Northern Italy, a number of city states had commune or signoria based governments, in the late Middle Ages, writers, such as Giovanni Villani, began writing about the nature of these states and the differences from other types of regime. They used terms such as libertas populi, a free people, the terminology changed in the 15th century as the renewed interest in the writings of Ancient Rome caused writers to prefer using classical terminology. To describe non-monarchical states writers, most importantly Leonardo Bruni, adopted the Latin phrase res publica. While Bruni and Machiavelli used the term to describe the states of Northern Italy, which were not monarchies, the term can quite literally be translated as public matter. It was most often used by Roman writers to refer to the state and government, in subsequent centuries, the English word commonwealth came to be used as a translation of res publica, and its use in English was comparable to how the Romans used the term res publica. Notably, during The Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell the word commonwealth was the most common term to call the new monarchless state, likewise, in Polish, the term was translated as rzeczpospolita, although the translation is now only used with respect to Poland. Presently, the term republic commonly means a system of government which derives its power from the rather than from another basis. After the classical period, during the Middle Ages, many cities developed again. The modern type of itself is different from any type of state found in the classical world. Nevertheless, there are a number of states of the era that are today still called republics
5.
Danube
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The Danube is Europes second-longest river, after the Volga River, and also the longest river in the European Union region. It is located in Central and Eastern Europe, the Danube was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire, and today flows through 10 countries, more than any other river in the world. Its drainage basin extends into nine more countries, the Latin name Dānuvius is one of a number of Old European river names derived from a Proto-Indo-European *dānu. Other river names from the root include the Dunajec, Dzvina/Daugava, Don, Donets, Dnieper, Dniestr. In Rigvedic Sanskrit, dānu means fluid, drop, in Avestan, in the Rigveda, Dānu once appears as the mother of Vrtra. Known to the ancient Greeks as the Istros a borrowing from a Daco-Thracian name meaning strong, in Latin, the Danube was variously known as Danubius, Danuvius or as Ister. The Dacian/Thracian name was Donaris for the upper Danube and Istros for the lower Danube, the Thraco-Phrygian name was Matoas, the bringer of luck. The Latin name is masculine, as are all its Slavic names, the German Donau is feminine, as it has been re-interpreted as containing the suffix -ouwe wetland. Classified as a waterway, it originates in the town of Donaueschingen, in the Black Forest of Germany, at the confluence of the rivers Brigach. The Danube then flows southeast for about 2,800 km, passing through four capital cities before emptying into the Black Sea via the Danube Delta in Romania and its drainage basin extends into nine more. The highest point of the basin is the summit of Piz Bernina at the Italy–Switzerland border. The land drained by the Danube extends into other countries. Many Danubian tributaries are important rivers in their own right, navigable by barges, from its source to its outlet into the Black Sea, its main tributaries are, The Danube flows through many cities, including four national capitals, more than any other river in the world. Danube remains a mountain river until Passau, with average bottom gradient 0. 0012%. Middle Section, From Devín Gate to Iron Gate, at the border of Serbia and Romania, the riverbed widens and the average bottom gradient becomes only 0. 00006%. Lower Section, From Iron Gate to Sulina, with average gradient as little as 0. 00003%, about 60 of its tributaries are also navigable. In 1994 the Danube was declared one of ten Pan-European transport corridors, routes in Central, the amount of goods transported on the Danube increased to about 100 million tons in 1987. In 1999, transport on the river was difficult by the NATO bombing of three bridges in Serbia during the Kosovo War
6.
Croatia
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Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a sovereign state between Central Europe, Southeast Europe, and the Mediterranean. Its capital city is Zagreb, which one of the countrys primary subdivisions. Croatia covers 56,594 square kilometres and has diverse, mostly continental, Croatias Adriatic Sea coast contains more than a thousand islands. The countrys population is 4.28 million, most of whom are Croats, the Croats arrived in the area of present-day Croatia during the early part of the 7th century AD. They organised the state into two duchies by the 9th century, tomislav became the first king by 925, elevating Croatia to the status of a kingdom. The Kingdom of Croatia retained its sovereignty for nearly two centuries, reaching its peak during the rule of Kings Petar Krešimir IV and Dmitar Zvonimir, Croatia entered a personal union with Hungary in 1102. In 1527, faced with Ottoman conquest, the Croatian Parliament elected Ferdinand I of the House of Habsburg to the Croatian throne. In 1918, after World War I, Croatia was included in the unrecognized State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs which seceded from Austria-Hungary, a fascist Croatian puppet state backed by Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany existed during World War II. After the war, Croatia became a member and a federal constituent of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. On 25 June 1991 Croatia declared independence, which came wholly into effect on 8 October of the same year, the Croatian War of Independence was fought successfully during the four years following the declaration. A unitary state, Croatia is a republic governed under a parliamentary system, the International Monetary Fund classified Croatia as an emerging and developing economy, and the World Bank identified it as a high-income economy. Croatia is a member of the European Union, United Nations, the Council of Europe, NATO, the World Trade Organization, the service sector dominates Croatias economy, followed by the industrial sector and agriculture. Tourism is a significant source of revenue during the summer, with Croatia ranked the 18th most popular tourist destination in the world, the state controls a part of the economy, with substantial government expenditure. The European Union is Croatias most important trading partner, since 2000, the Croatian government constantly invests in infrastructure, especially transport routes and facilities along the Pan-European corridors. Internal sources produce a significant portion of energy in Croatia, the rest is imported, the origin of the name is uncertain, but is thought to be a Gothic or Indo-Aryan term assigned to a Slavic tribe. The oldest preserved record of the Croatian ethnonym *xъrvatъ is of variable stem, the first attestation of the Latin term is attributed to a charter of Duke Trpimir from the year 852. The original is lost, and just a 1568 copy is preserved—leading to doubts over the authenticity of the claim, the oldest preserved stone inscription is the 9th-century Branimir Inscription, where Duke Branimir is styled as Dux Cruatorvm. The inscription is not believed to be dated accurately, but is likely to be from during the period of 879–892, the area known as Croatia today was inhabited throughout the prehistoric period
7.
Serbia
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Serbia, officially the Republic of Serbia, is a sovereign state situated at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Pannonian Plain and the central Balkans. Relative to its territory, it is a diverse country distinguished by a transitional character, situated along cultural, geographic, climatic. Serbia numbers around 7 million residents, and its capital, Belgrade, following the Slavic migrations to the Balkans from the 6th century onwards, Serbs established several states in the early Middle Ages. The Serbian Kingdom obtained recognition by Rome and the Byzantine Empire in 1217, in the early 19th century, the Serbian Revolution established the nation-state as the regions first constitutional monarchy, which subsequently expanded its territory. During the breakup of Yugoslavia, Serbia formed a union with Montenegro which dissolved peacefully in 2006, in 2008 the parliament of the province of Kosovo unilaterally declared independence, with mixed responses from the international community. Serbia is a member of organizations such as the UN, CoE, OSCE, PfP, BSEC. An EU membership candidate since 2012, Serbia has been negotiating its EU accession since January 2014, the country is acceding to the WTO and is a militarily neutral state. Serbia is an income economy with dominant service sector, followed by the industrial sector. The country ranks high on the Social Progress Index as well as the Global Peace Index, relatively high on the Human Development Index, located at the crossroads between Central and Southern Europe, Serbia is found in the Balkan peninsula and the Pannonian Plain. Serbia lies between latitudes 41° and 47° N, and longitudes 18° and 23° E. The country covers a total of 88,361 km2, which places it at 113th place in the world, with Kosovo excluded, the area is 77,474 km2. Its total border length amounts to 2,027 km, all of Kosovos border with Albania, Macedonia and Montenegro are under control of the Kosovo border police. The Pannonian Plain covers the third of the country while the easternmost tip of Serbia extends into the Wallachian Plain. The terrain of the part of the country, with the region of Šumadija at its heart. Mountains dominate the third of Serbia. Dinaric Alps stretch in the west and the southwest, following the flow of the rivers Drina, the Carpathian Mountains and Balkan Mountains stretch in a north–south direction in eastern Serbia. Ancient mountains in the southeast corner of the country belong to the Rilo-Rhodope Mountain system, elevation ranges from the Midžor peak of the Balkan Mountains at 2,169 metres to the lowest point of just 17 metres near the Danube river at Prahovo. The largest lake is Đerdap Lake and the longest river passing through Serbia is the Danube, the climate of Serbia is under the influences of the landmass of Eurasia and the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea
8.
Czechs
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Ethnic Czechs were called Bohemians in English until the early 20th century, referring to the late Iron Age tribe of Celtic Boii and the land Bohemia. The Czech diaspora is found in numbers in the United States, Canada, Israel, Austria, Germany, Slovakia, Switzerland, Italy. The Czech ethnic group is part of the West Slavic subgroup of the larger Slavic ethno-linguistical group, the West Slavs have origin in early Slavic tribes which settled in Central Europe after East Germanic tribes had left this area during the migration period. The West Slavic tribe of Bohemians settled in the area of Bohemia during the migration period and they formed an independent principality in the 9th century, the Duchy of Bohemia, under the Přemyslid dynasty. According to mythology, the father of the Czech people were Forefather Čech. The Czech are closely related to the neighbouring Slovaks, the Czech–Slovak languages form a dialect continuum rather than being two clearly distinct languages. Czech cultural influence in Slovak culture is noted as having much higher than the other way around. Czech people have a history of coexistence with Germanic people. The Czech National Revival took place in the 18th and 19th centuries aiming to revive Czech language, culture, the Czech were the initiators of Pan-Slavism. The Czech ethnonym was the name of a Slavic tribe in central Bohemia that subdued the tribes in the late 9th century. The origin of the name of the tribe itself is unknown, according to legend, it comes from their leader Čech, who brought them to Bohemia. Research regards Čech as a derivative of the root čel-, the Czech ethnonym was adopted by the Moravians in the 19th century. The name Bohemia is Germanic, English used that name until after the establishment of Czechoslovakia, the population of the Czech lands has been influenced by different human migrations that wide-crossed Europe over time. In their Y-DNA haplogroups, which are inherited along the male line,34. 2% of Czech males belong to R1a, which is particularly common in a large region extending from South Asia and Southern Siberia to Central Europe and Scandinavia. The population of the Czech Republic descends from diverse peoples of Slavic, Celtic and Germanic origin, presence of West Slavs in the 6th century during the Migration Period has been documented on the Czech territory. Slavs settled in Bohemia, Moravia and Austria sometime during the 6th or 7th centuries, according to a popular myth, the Slavs came with Forefather Čech who settled at the Říp Mountain. The Duchy of Bohemia emerged in the late 9th century, in 880, Prague Castle was constructed by Prince Bořivoj, founder of the Přemyslid dynasty and the city of Prague was established. Vratislav II was the first Czech king in 1085 and the duchy was raised to a kingdom under Ottokar I in 1198
9.
Gibraltar
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Gibraltar is a British Overseas Territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula. It has an area of 6.7 km2 and shares its border with Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the landmark of the region. At its foot is a populated city area, home to over 30,000 Gibraltarians. An Anglo-Dutch force captured Gibraltar from Spain in 1704 during the War of the Spanish Succession on behalf of the Habsburg claim to the Spanish throne, the territory was subsequently ceded to Great Britain in perpetuity under the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713. Today Gibraltars economy is based largely on tourism, online gambling, financial services, the sovereignty of Gibraltar is a major point of contention in Anglo-Spanish relations as Spain asserts a claim to the territory. Gibraltarians overwhelmingly rejected proposals for Spanish sovereignty in a 1967 referendum, under the Gibraltar constitution of 2006, Gibraltar governs its own affairs, though some powers, such as defence and foreign relations, remain the responsibility of the British government. The name Gibraltar is the Spanish derivation of the Arabic name Jabal Ṭāriq, earlier, it was known as Mons Calpe, a name of Phoenician origin and one of the Pillars of Hercules. The pronunciation of the name in modern Spanish is, evidence of Neanderthal habitation in Gibraltar between 28,000 and 24,000 BP has been discovered at Gorhams Cave, making Gibraltar possibly the last known holdout of the Neanderthals. Within recorded history, the first inhabitants were the Phoenicians, around 950 BC, subsequently, Gibraltar became known as one of the Pillars of Hercules, after the Greek legend of the creation of the Strait of Gibraltar by Heracles. The Carthaginians and Romans also established semi-permanent settlements, after the collapse of the Roman Empire, Gibraltar came briefly under the control of the Vandals. The area later formed part of the Visigothic Kingdom of Hispania from 414 AD until the Islamic conquest of Iberia in 711 AD, in 1160, the Almohad Sultan Abd al-Mumin ordered that a permanent settlement, including a castle, be built. It received the name of Medinat al-Fath, on completion of the works in the town, the Sultan crossed the Strait to look at the works and stayed in Gibraltar for two months. The Tower of Homage of the Moorish Castle remains standing today, from 1274 onwards, the town was fought over and captured by the Nasrids of Granada, the Marinids of Morocco and the kings of Castile. In 1462, Gibraltar was finally captured by Juan Alonso de Guzmán, after the conquest, King Henry IV of Castile assumed the additional title of King of Gibraltar, establishing it as part of the comarca of the Campo Llano de Gibraltar. In 1501, Gibraltar passed back to the Spanish Crown, the occupation of the town by Alliance forces caused the exodus of the population to the surrounding area of the Campo de Gibraltar. As the Alliances campaign faltered, the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht was negotiated and ceded control of Gibraltar to Britain to secure Britains withdrawal from the war. Unsuccessful attempts by Spanish monarchs to regain Gibraltar were made with the siege of 1727 and again with the Great Siege of Gibraltar, during the American War of Independence
10.
Croatian War of Independence
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In Croatia, the war is primarily referred to as the Homeland War and also as the Greater-Serbian Aggression. In Serbian sources, War in Croatia and War in Krajina are used, Croatia declared independence on 25 June 1991, but agreed to postpone it with the Brioni Agreement and cut all remaining ties with Yugoslavia on 8 October 1991. The JNA initially tried to keep Croatia within Yugoslavia by occupying all of Croatia, after this failed, Serb forces established the self-proclaimed Republic of Serbian Krajina within Croatia. During that time, the RSK encompassed 13,913 square kilometers, in 1995, Croatia launched two major offensives known as Operation Flash and Operation Storm, which would effectively end the war in its favor. The remaining United Nations Transitional Authority for Eastern Slavonia, Baranja, the war ended with Croatian victory, as it achieved the goals it had declared at the beginning of the war, independence and preservation of its borders. 21–25% of Croatias economy was ruined, with an estimated US$37 billion in damaged infrastructure, lost output, a total of 20,000 people were killed in the war, and refugees were displaced on both sides. The Serb and Croatian governments began to cooperate with each other but tension remains, in part due to verdicts by the ICTY. Between 2008 and 2012, the ICTY had prosecuted Croatian generals Ante Gotovina, Mladen Markač, Čermak was acquitted outright, and the convictions of Gotovina and Markač were later overturned by an ICTY Appeals Panel. The International Court of Justice dismissed Croatia and Serbia genocide claims in 2015, the Court reaffirmed that serious crimes against civilians had taken place, but ruled that specific genocidal intent was not present. From 1967 to 1972 in Croatia and 1968 and 1981 protests in Kosovo, nationalist doctrines, the suppression by the state of nationalists is believed to have had the effect of identifying nationalism as the primary alternative to communism itself and made it a strong underground movement. A crisis emerged in Yugoslavia with the weakening of the Communist states in Eastern Europe towards the end of the Cold War, in Yugoslavia, the national communist party, officially called the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, had lost its ideological potency. SR Slovenia and SR Croatia wanted to move towards decentralization, the rhetoric was approved by the Serbian political leadership, and accused the Croatian leadership of being blindly nationalistic when it objected. In 1989, political parties were allowed and a number of them had been founded, including the Croatian Democratic Union, led by Franjo Tuđman, who later became the first president of Croatia. In January 1990, the League of Communists broke up on ethnic lines, with the Croatian, at the congress, Serbian delegates accused the Croatian and Slovene delegates of supporting separatism, terrorism and genocide in Kosovo. The Croatian and Slovene delegations, including most of their ethnic Serb members, eventually left in protest, January 1990 also marked the beginning of court cases being brought to Yugoslavias Constitutional Court on the matter of secession. The first was the Slovenian Constitutional Amendments case after Slovenia claimed the right to unilateral secession pursuant to the right of self-determination, the Constitutional Court ruled that secession from the federation was only permitted if there was the unanimous agreement of Yugoslavias republics and autonomous provinces. On 4 March 1990,50,000 Serbs rallied at Petrova Gora, and shouted negative remarks aimed at Tuđman, chanted This is Serbia, the first free elections in Croatia and Slovenia were scheduled for a few months later. The first round of elections in Croatia were held on 22 April, the HDZ based its campaign on greater sovereignty for Croatia, fueling a sentiment among Croats that only the HDZ could protect Croatia from the aspirations of Milošević towards a Greater Serbia
11.
United Nations
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The United Nations is an intergovernmental organization to promote international co-operation. A replacement for the ineffective League of Nations, the organization was established on 24 October 1945 after World War II in order to prevent another such conflict, at its founding, the UN had 51 member states, there are now 193. The headquarters of the UN is in Manhattan, New York City, further main offices are situated in Geneva, Nairobi, and Vienna. The organization is financed by assessed and voluntary contributions from its member states, the UNs mission to preserve world peace was complicated in its early decades by the Cold War between the US and Soviet Union and their respective allies. The organization participated in actions in Korea and the Congo. After the end of the Cold War, the UN took on major military, the UN has six principal organs, the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council, the Secretariat, the International Court of Justice, and the UN Trusteeship Council. UN System agencies include the World Bank Group, the World Health Organization, the World Food Programme, UNESCO, the UNs most prominent officer is the Secretary-General, an office held by Portuguese António Guterres since 2017. Non-governmental organizations may be granted consultative status with ECOSOC and other agencies to participate in the UNs work, the organization won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2001, and a number of its officers and agencies have also been awarded the prize. Other evaluations of the UNs effectiveness have been mixed, some commentators believe the organization to be an important force for peace and human development, while others have called the organization ineffective, corrupt, or biased. Following the catastrophic loss of life in the First World War, the earliest concrete plan for a new world organization began under the aegis of the US State Department in 1939. It incorporated Soviet suggestions, but left no role for France, four Policemen was coined to refer to four major Allied countries, United States, United Kingdom, Soviet Union, and China, which emerged in the Declaration by United Nations. Roosevelt first coined the term United Nations to describe the Allied countries, the term United Nations was first officially used when 26 governments signed this Declaration. One major change from the Atlantic Charter was the addition of a provision for religious freedom, by 1 March 1945,21 additional states had signed. Each Government pledges itself to cooperate with the Governments signatory hereto, the foregoing declaration may be adhered to by other nations which are, or which may be, rendering material assistance and contributions in the struggle for victory over Hitlerism. During the war, the United Nations became the term for the Allies. To join, countries had to sign the Declaration and declare war on the Axis, at the later meetings, Lord Halifax deputized for Mr. Eden, Wellington Koo for T. V. Soong, and Mr Gromyko for Mr. Molotov. The first meetings of the General Assembly, with 51 nations represented, the General Assembly selected New York City as the site for the headquarters of the UN, and the facility was completed in 1952. Its site—like UN headquarters buildings in Geneva, Vienna, and Nairobi—is designated as international territory, the Norwegian Foreign Minister, Trygve Lie, was elected as the first UN Secretary-General
12.
Somaliland
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Somaliland, officially the Republic of Somaliland, is a self-declared state internationally recognised as an autonomous region of Somalia. Somaliland lies in northwestern Somalia, on the southern coast of the Gulf of Aden and it is bordered by Puntland State of Somalia to the east, Djibouti to the northwest, and Ethiopia to the south and west. Its claimed territory has an area of 137,600 square kilometres, the capital and the largest city is Hargeisa, with the population of around 1,200,000 residents. In 1988, the Siad Barre regime launched a crackdown against the Hargeisa-based Somali National Movement and other militant groups, the conflict left the countrys economic and military infrastructure severely damaged. Since then, the territory has been governed by elected governments that seek international recognition as the Government of the Republic of Somaliland. The central government maintains informal ties with foreign governments, who have sent delegations to Hargeisa. Ethiopia also maintains an office in the region. However, Somalilands self-proclaimed independence remains unrecognised by any country or international organisation and it is a member of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization, an advocacy group whose members consist of indigenous peoples, minorities, and unrecognised or occupied territories. The earliest human artefacts in the area are the Laas Geel cave paintings, the region is sometimes thought to be part of the Land of Punt. Islam was introduced to the northern Somali littoral early on from the Arabian peninsula, various Muslim Somali kingdoms were formed around this period in the area. In the 14th century, the Zeila-based Adal Sultanate battled the forces of the Ethiopian emperor Amda Seyon I, the Ottoman Empire later occupied Berbera and environs in the 1500s. Muhammad Ali, Pasha of Egypt, subsequently established a foothold in the area between 1821 and 1841, the British garrisoned the protectorate from Aden and administered it as part of British India until 1898. British Somaliland was then administered by the Foreign Office until 1905, generally, the British did not have much interest in the resource-barren region. The stated purposes of the establishment of the protectorate were to secure a supply market, check the traffic in slaves, hence, the regions nickname of Adens butchers shop. Colonial administration during this period did not extend administrative infrastructure beyond the coast, on 1 July 1960, the protectorate and the Trust Territory of Somaliland united as planned to form the Somali Republic. A government was formed by Abdullahi Issa, with Aden Abdullah Osman Daar as President, on 20 July 1961 and through a popular referendum, the Somali people ratified a new constitution, which was first drafted in 1960. In 1967, Muhammad Haji Ibrahim Egal became Prime Minister, a position to which he was appointed by Shermarke, Shermarke was assassinated two years later by one of his own bodyguards. His murder was followed by a military coup détat on 21 October 1969
13.
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
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Covering an area of 255,804 km², the SFRY was bordered with Italy to the west, Hungary to the north, Bulgaria and Romania to the east and Albania and Greece to the south. In addition, it included two autonomous provinces within Serbia, Kosovo and Vojvodina, the SFRY traces back to 29 June 1943 when the Anti-Fascist Council for the National Liberation of Yugoslavia was formed during World War II. On 29 November 1945, the Federal Peoples Republic of Yugoslavia was proclaimed after the deposal of King Peter II thus ending the monarchy. Following the death of Tito on 4 May 1980, rising ethnic nationalism in the late 1980s led to dissidence among the multiple ethnicities within the constituent republics. This led to the federation collapsing along the borders, followed by the final downfall and breakup of the federation on 27 April 1992. The term former Yugoslavia is now commonly used retrospectively, the name Yugoslavia, an Anglicised transcription of Jugoslavija, is a composite word made-up of jug and slavija. The Serbo-Croatian, Slovene and Macedonian word jug means south, while slavija denotes a land of the Slavs, thus, a translation of Jugoslavija would be South-Slavia or Land of the South Slavs. The term is intended to denote the lands occupied by the six South Slavic nations, Serbs, Croats, Bosniaks, Montenegrins, Slovenes, the full official name of the federation varied significantly between 1945 and 1992. Yugoslavia was formed in 1918 under the name Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, the name deliberately left the republic-or-kingdom question open. In 1963, amid pervasive liberal constitutional reforms, the name Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was introduced, the state is most commonly referred to by the latter name, which it held for the longest period of all. The most common abbreviation is SFRY, though SFR Yugoslavia was also used in an official capacity, particularly by the media. On 6 April 1941, Yugoslavia was invaded by the Axis powers led by Nazi Germany, by 17 April 1941, Yugoslav resistance was soon established in two forms, the Royal Yugoslav Army and the Yugoslav Partisans. The Partisan supreme commander was Josip Broz Tito, and under his command the movement soon began establishing liberated territories which attracted the attentions of the occupying forces. The coalition of parties, factions, and prominent individuals behind the movement was the Peoples Liberation Front. The Front formed a political body, the Anti-Fascist Council for the Peoples Liberation of Yugoslavia. The AVNOJ, which met for the first time in Partisan-liberated Bihać on 26 November 1942, during 1943, the Yugoslav Partisans began attracting serious attention from the Germans. In two major operations of Fall Weiss and Fall Schwartz, the Axis attempted to stamp-out the Yugoslav resistance once, on both occasions, despite heavy casualties, the Group succeeded in evading the trap and retreating to safety. The Partisans emerged stronger than before and now occupied a significant portion of Yugoslavia
14.
Breakup of Yugoslavia
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The breakup of Yugoslavia occurred as a result of a series of political upheavals and conflicts during the early 1990s. After a period of crisis in the 1980s, constituent republics of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia split apart. The wars primarily affected Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia, in addition, two autonomous provinces were established within Serbia, Vojvodina and Kosovo. Each of the republics had its own branch of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia party and a ruling elite, after his death in 1980, the weakened system of federal government was left unable to cope with rising economic and political challenges. In the 1980s, Kosovo Albanians started to demand that their autonomous province be granted the status of a constituent republic, the League of Communists of Yugoslavia dissolved in 1990 along federal lines. Nationalist rhetoric on all sides became increasingly heated, in 1991, one republic after another proclaimed independence, but the status of Serb minorities outside Serbia was left unsolved. Before World War II, major tensions arose from the first, monarchist Yugoslavias multi-ethnic make-up and relative political, fundamental to the tensions were the different concepts of the new state. The Croats and Slovenes envisaged a federal model where they would enjoy greater autonomy than they had as a crown land under Austria-Hungary. Under Austria-Hungary, both Slovenes and Croats enjoyed autonomy with free hands only in education, law, religion, and 45% of taxes. The Serbs tended to view the territories as a just reward for their support of the allies in World War I, the assassination and human rights abuses were subject of concern for the Human Rights League and precipitated voices of protest from intellectuals, including Albert Einstein. It was in this environment of oppression that the insurgent group. During World War II, the tensions were exploited by the occupying Axis forces which established a Croat puppet state spanning much of present-day Croatia and Bosnia. The Axis powers installed the Ustaše as the leaders of the Independent State of Croatia, the Ustaše resolved that the Serbian minority were a fifth column of Serbian expansionism, and pursued a policy of persecution against the Serbs. The policy dictated that one-third of the Serbian minority were to be killed, one-third expelled, both Croats and Muslims were recruited as soldiers by the SS. At the same time, former royalist, General Milan Nedić, was installed by the Axis as head of the government and local Serbs were recruited into the Gestapo. The official Yugoslav post-war estimate of victims in Yugoslavia during World War II was 1,704,000, subsequent data gathering in the 1980s by historians Vladimir Žerjavić and Bogoljub Kočović showed that the actual number of dead was about 1 million. Of that number,330,000 to 390,000 ethnic Serbs perished from all causes in Croatia and Bosnia, Yugoslavia was in its heyday a regional industrial power and an economic success. From 1960 to 1980, annual gross domestic product growth averaged 6.1 percent, medical care was free, literacy was 91 percent, Yugoslavia was a unique state, straddling both the East and West
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Thalweg
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In geography and fluvial geomorphology, a thalweg or talweg is the line of lowest elevation within a valley or watercourse. Under international law, thalwegs can acquire special significance because disputed river borders are often deemed to run along the rivers thalweg, the word thalweg is of 19th-century German origin. The German word Thalweg is a noun that is built from the German elements Thal meaning valley. In hydrological and fluvial landforms, the thalweg is a line drawn to join the lowest points along the length of a stream bed or valley in its downward slope. The thalweg thus marks the direction of a watercourse. The term is sometimes used to refer to a subterranean stream that percolates under the surface. Slowing stream bed erosion by taking advantage of a thalweg helps stabilize running water sources, placing boulders along the thalweg in a running water source helps to protect the channels sedimentary erosion and deposit balance. This process of utilizing a thalweg to slow stream bed erosion was used in Meacham Creek in Umatilla, various states have also defined their watercourse international boundaries by a median line, left bank, right bank, etc. Stream gradient USGS, Stream Modeling website
16.
Border
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Borders are geographic boundaries of political entities or legal jurisdictions, such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other subnational entities. Some borders—such as an internal administrative border, or inter-state borders within the Schengen Area—are often open. Other borders are partially or fully controlled, and may be crossed only at designated border checkpoints. Mostly contentious, borders may even foster the setting up of buffer zones, a difference has also been established in academic scholarship between border and frontier, the latter denoting a state of mind rather than state boundaries. In the past, many borders were not clearly defined lines, instead there were often intervening areas often claimed, a special case in recent times was the neutral zones that were set up along parts of Saudi Arabias borders with Kuwait and Iraq. In modern times, marchlands have been replaced by clearly defined and demarcated borders, for the purposes of border control, airports and seaports are also classed as borders. Most countries have some form of control to regulate or limit the movement of people, animals. Some borders require presentation of legal paperwork like passports and visas, or other identity documents, moving goods across a border often requires the payment of excise tax, often collected by customs officials. Animals moving across borders may need to go into quarantine to prevent the spread of infectious diseases. Most countries prohibit carrying illegal drugs or endangered animals across their borders, moving goods, animals, or people illegally across a border, without declaring them or seeking permission, or deliberately evading official inspection, constitutes smuggling. Controls on car liability insurance validity and other formalities may also take place, in places where smuggling, migration, and infiltration are a problem, many countries fortify borders with fences and barriers, and institute formal border control procedures. But some borders are merely signposted and this is common in countries within the European Schengen Area and on rural sections of the Canada–United States border. Borders may even be unmarked, typically in remote or forested regions. The frontiers were particularly porous for the movement of migrants. A border may have been, Agreed by the countries on both sides Imposed by the country on one side Imposed by third parties, e. g, in addition, a border may be a de facto military ceasefire line. Political borders are imposed on the world through human agency, political borders are often classified by whether or not they follow conspicuous physical features on the earth. Natural borders are geographical features that present natural obstacles to communication, existing political borders are often a formalization of these historical, natural obstacles. Some geographical features that often constitute natural borders are, Oceans, oceans create very costly natural borders, very few nation-states span more than one continent
17.
Cadastre
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A cadastre, using a cadastral survey or cadastral map, is a comprehensive register of the real estate or real propertys metes-and-bounds of a country. In most countries, legal systems have developed around the administrative systems and use the cadastre to define the dimensions. The cadastre is a source of data in disputes and lawsuits between landowners. In the United States, Cadastral Survey within the Bureau of Land Management maintains records of all public lands, such surveys often require detailed investigation of the history of land use, legal accounts, and other documents. A cadastre commonly includes details of the ownership, the tenure, the location, the dimensions, the cultivations if rural. Cadastres are used by nations around the world, some in conjunction with other records. The International Federation of Surveyors defines cadastre as follows, A Cadastre is normally a parcel based, the word forms the adjective cadastral, used in public administration, primarily for ownership and taxation purposes. The terminology for cadastral divisions may include counties, parishes, ridings, hundreds, sections, lots, blocks, other languages have kept the original t sound in the second syllable. In modern Greek, though, it has replaced by κτηματολόγιο /ktimatologio/. Some of the earliest cadasters were ordered by Roman Emperors to recover state owned lands that had appropriated by private individuals. In this way Vespasian was able to reimpose taxation formerly uncollected on these lands, with the fall of Rome the use of cadastral maps effectively discontinued. Medieval practice used written descriptions of the extent of land rather than using more precise surveys, only in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries did the use of cadastral maps resume, beginning in the Netherlands. With the emergence of capitalism in Renaissance Europe the need for cadastral maps reemerged as a tool to determine and this took place first privately in land disputes and later spread to governmental practice as a means of more precise tax assessment. Cadastral surveys document the boundaries of land ownership, by the production of documents, diagrams, sketches, plans, charts and they were originally used to ensure reliable facts for land valuation and taxation. An example from early England is the Domesday Book in 1086, napoleon established a comprehensive cadastral system for France that is regarded as the forerunner of most modern versions. The Public Lands Survey System is a survey of the United States originating in legislation from 1785. The Dominion Land Survey is a cadastral survey conducted in Western Canada begun in 1871 after the creation of the Dominion of Canada in 1867. Both cadastral surveys are made relative to principal meridian and baselines and these cadastral surveys divided the surveyed areas into townships, square land areas of approximately 36 square miles
18.
Meander
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A meander, in general, is a bend in a sinuous watercourse or river. A meander forms when moving water in a stream erodes the outer banks and widens its valley, a stream of any volume may assume a meandering course, alternately eroding sediments from the outside of a bend and depositing them on the inside. The result is a pattern as the stream meanders back. When a meander gets cut off from the stream, an oxbow lake forms. Over time meanders migrate downstream, sometimes in such a time as to create civil engineering problems for local municipalities attempting to maintain stable roads. There is not yet full consistency or standardization of scientific terminology used to describe watercourses, a variety of symbols and schemes exist. Parameters based on mathematical formulae or numerical data vary as well, unless otherwise defined in a specific scheme meandering and sinuosity here are synonymous and mean any repetitious pattern of bends, or waveforms. In some schemes, meandering applies only to rivers with exaggerated circular loops or secondary meanders, sinuosity is one of the channel types that a stream may assume over all or part of its course. All streams are sinuous at some time in their history over some part of their length. The term derives from the Meander River located in present-day Turkey and known to the Ancient Greeks as Μαίανδρος Maiandros and its course is so exceedingly winding that everything winding is called meandering. The Meander River is located south of Izmir, east of the ancient Greek town of Miletus, now, Milet and it flows through a graben in the Menderes Massif, but has a flood plain much wider than the meander zone in its lower reach. Its modern Turkish name is the Büyük Menderes River, when a fluid is introduced to an initially straight channel which then bends, the sidewalls induce a pressure gradient that causes the fluid to alter course and follow the bend. From here, two opposing processes occur, irrotational flow and secondary flow, for a river to meander, secondary flow must dominate. Irrotational flow, From Bernoullis equations, high pressure results in low velocity, therefore, in the absence of secondary flow we would expect low fluid velocity at the outside bend and high fluid velocity at the inside bend. This classic fluid mechanics result is irrotational vortex flow, in the context of meandering rivers, its effects are dominated by those of secondary flow. Secondary flow, A force balance exists between pressure forces pointing to the bend of the river and centrifugal forces pointing to the outside bend of the river. In the context of meandering rivers, a boundary layer exists within the layer of fluid that interacts with the river bed. Inside that layer and following standard boundary-layer theory, the velocity of the fluid is effectively zero, centrifugal force, which depends on velocity, is also therefore effectively zero
19.
Hydraulic engineering
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Hydraulic engineering as a sub-discipline of civil engineering is concerned with the flow and conveyance of fluids, principally water and sewage. One feature of these systems is the use of gravity as the motive force to cause the movement of the fluids. This area of engineering is intimately related to the design of bridges, dams, channels, canals, and levees. Hydraulic engineering is the application of the principles of mechanics to problems dealing with the collection, storage, control, transport, regulation, measurement. Before beginning a hydraulic engineering project, one must figure out how water is involved. The hydraulic engineer is concerned with the transport of sediment by the river, the interaction of the water with its boundary. Fundamentals of Hydraulic Engineering defines hydrostatics as the study of fluids at rest, in a fluid at rest, there exists a force, known as pressure, that acts upon the fluids surroundings. This pressure, measured in N/m2, is not constant throughout the body of fluid, pressure, p, in a given body of fluid, increases with an increase in depth. Four basic devices for measurement are a piezometer, manometer, differential manometer, Bourdon gauge. As Prasuhn states, On undisturbed submerged bodies, pressure acts along all surfaces of a body in a liquid and this reaction is known as equilibrium. More advanced applications of pressure are that on plane surfaces, curved surfaces, dams, the main difference between an ideal fluid and a real fluid is that for ideal flow p1 = p2 and for real flow p1 > p2. Ideal fluid is incompressible and has no viscosity, ideal fluid is only an imaginary fluid as all fluids that exist have some viscosity. A viscous fluid will deform continuously under a force, whereas an ideal fluid doesnt deform. The various effects of disturbance on a flow are stable, transition. For an ideal fluid, Bernoullis equation holds along streamlines, as the flow comes into contact with the plate, the layer of fluid actually adheres to a solid surface. There is then a considerable shearing action between the layer of fluid on the surface and the second layer of fluid. The second layer is forced to decelerate, creating a shearing action with the third layer of fluid. As the fluid passes further along the plate, the zone in which shearing action occurs tends to spread further outwards and this zone is known as the boundary layer
20.
Tufa
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Tufa is a variety of limestone formed when carbonate minerals precipitate out of ambient temperature water. Geothermally heated hot springs sometimes produce similar carbonate deposits known as travertine, Tufa is sometimes referred to as travertine. It should not be confused with hot spring travertine, however, Mono Lakes tufa is thermogene, according to Pentecost. Tufa, which is calcareous, should not be confused with tuff, modern and fossil tufa deposits abound with wetland plants, as such many tufa deposits are characterised by their large macrobiological component and are highly porous. Tufa forms either in fluvial channels or in lacustrine settings, ford and Pedley provide a review of tufa systems worldwide. Deposits can be classified by their depositional environment, Pedley provides an extensive classification system, which includes the following classes of fluvial tufa, Spring – Deposits form on emergence from a spring/seep. Barrages often contain a significant detrital component, composed of organic material, lacustrine tufas are generally formed at the periphery of lakes and build up phytoherms and stromatolites. Oncoids are also common in these environments, while fluvial and lacustrine systems make up the bulk of tufa systems worldwide, there are several other important tufa environments. Although sometimes regarded as a distinct carbonate deposit, calcareous sinter formed from ambient temperature water can be considered a sub-type of tufa, calcareous speleothems may be regarded as a form of calcareous sinter. They lack any significant macrophyte component due to the absence of light, Tufa columns are an unusual form of tufa typically associated with saline lakes. They are distinct from most tufa deposits in that lack any significant macrophyte component. Some tufa columns may form from hot-springs and therefore actually be a form of travertine. It is generally thought that such features form from CaCO3 precipitated when carbonate rich source waters emerge into alkaline soda lakes and they have also been found in marine settings. Tufa deposits form an important habitat for a diverse flora, bryophytes and diatoms are well represented. The porosity of the deposits creates a wet habitat ideal for these plants, modern tufa is formed from alkaline waters, supersaturated with calcite. On emergence, waters degas CO2 due to the lower atmospheric pCO2, since carbonate solubility decreases with increased pH, precipitation is induced. Supersaturation may be enhanced by leading to a reduction in pCO2, for example increased air-water interactions at waterfalls may be important. Recently it has demonstrated that microbially induced precipitation may be more important than physico-chemical precipitation
21.
International waters
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International waters have no sovereignty, ergo is Terra nullius as no state controls it. All states have the freedom of, fishing, navigation, overflight, laying cables and pipelines, oceans, seas, and waters outside of national jurisdiction are also referred to as the high seas or, in Latin, mare liberum. International waters can be contrasted with internal waters, territorial waters, several international treaties have established freedom of navigation on semi-enclosed seas. The Copenhagen Convention of 1857 opened access to the Baltic by abolishing the Sound Dues and making the Danish Straits an international waterway free to all commercial, several conventions have opened the Bosphorus and Dardanelles to shipping. The latest, the Montreux Convention Regarding the Regime of the Turkish Straits, Other international treaties have opened up rivers, which are not traditionally international waterways. The Danube River is a waterway so that landlocked Austria, Hungary, Moldova, Serbia. The Southern Ocean, Australia claims an economic zone around its Antarctic territorial claim. Since this claim is recognised by four other countries, the EEZ claim is also disputed. Area around Okinotorishima, Japan claim Okinotorishima is an islet and thus they should have an EEZ around it, South China Sea, See Territorial disputes in the South China Sea. Some countries consider the South China Sea as international waters, in addition to formal disputes, the government of Somalia exercises little control de facto over Somali territorial waters. Consequently, much piracy, illegal dumping of waste and fishing without permit has occurred, although water is often seen as a source of conflict, recent research suggests that water management can be a source for cooperation between countries. Such cooperation will benefit participating countries by being the catalyst for larger socio-economic development, the Yearbook of International Cooperation on Environment and Development profiles agreements regarding the Marine Environment, Marine Living Resources and Freshwater Resources. 1972 London Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes,1973 London International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships,1973 MARPOL1982 United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea. 1997 United Nations Convention on the Law of Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses - not ratified, transboundary Groundwater Treaty, Bellagio Draft - proposed, but not signed. Other global conventions and treaties with implications for International Waters,1971 Ramsar Convention on Wetlands
22.
Black Sea
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The Black Sea is a body of water between Eastern Europe and Western Asia, bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania, Russia, Turkey, and Ukraine. It is supplied by a number of rivers, such as the Danube, Dnieper, Rioni, Southern Bug. The Black Sea has an area of 436,400 km2, a depth of 2,212 m. It is constrained by the Pontic Mountains to the south and by the Caucasus Mountains to the east, the longest east-west extent is about 1,175 km. The Black Sea has a water balance, that is, a net outflow of water 300 km3 per year through the Bosphorus. Mediterranean water flows into the Black Sea as part of a two-way hydrological exchange, the Black Sea drains into the Mediterranean Sea and then the Atlantic Ocean, via the Aegean Sea and various straits. The Bosphorus Strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and these waters separate Eastern Europe and Western Asia. The Black Sea is also connected to the Sea of Azov by the Strait of Kerch, the water level has varied significantly. Due to these variations in the level in the basin. At certain critical water levels it is possible for connections with surrounding water bodies to become established and it is through the most active of these connective routes, the Turkish Straits, that the Black Sea joins the world ocean. When this hydrological link is not present, the Black Sea is a basin, operating independently of the global ocean system. Currently the Black Sea water level is high, thus water is being exchanged with the Mediterranean. The Turkish Straits connect the Black Sea with the Aegean Sea, and comprise the Bosphorus, the Sea of Marmara, the International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the Black Sea as follows, On the Southwest. The Northeastern limit of the Sea of Marmara, a line joining Cape Takil and Cape Panaghia. Strabos Geographica reports that in antiquity, the Black Sea was often just called the Sea, for the most part, Graeco-Roman tradition refers to the Black Sea as the Hospitable sea, Εὔξεινος Πόντος Eúxeinos Póntos. This is a euphemism replacing an earlier Inhospitable Sea, Πόντος Ἄξεινος Póntos Áxeinos, strabo thinks that the Black Sea was called inhospitable before Greek colonization because it was difficult to navigate, and because its shores were inhabited by savage tribes. The name was changed to hospitable after the Milesians had colonized the southern shoreline and it is also possible that the epithet Áxeinos arose by popular etymology from a Scythian word axšaina- unlit, dark, the designation Black Sea may thus date from antiquity. A map of Asia dating to 1570, entitled Asiae Nova Descriptio, from Abraham Orteliuss Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, english-language writers of the 18th century often used the name Euxine Sea to refer to the Black Sea
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Landlocked country
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A landlocked state or landlocked country is a sovereign state entirely enclosed by land, or whose only coastlines lie on closed seas. There are currently 49 such countries, including five partially recognised states, only two, Bolivia and Paraguay in South America, lie outside Afro-Eurasia. As a rule, being landlocked creates political and economic handicaps that access to the high seas avoids, for this reason, states large and small across history have striven to gain access to open waters, even at great expense in wealth, bloodshed, and political capital. The economic disadvantages of being landlocked can be alleviated or aggravated depending on degree of development, language barriers, some historically landlocked countries are quite affluent, such as Switzerland, Luxembourg, and Austria, all of which frequently employ neutrality to their political advantage. The majority, however, are classified as Landlocked Developing Countries,9 of the 12 countries with the lowest Human Development Indices are landlocked. Historically, being landlocked has been disadvantageous to a countrys development and it cuts a nation off from such important sea resources as fishing, and impedes or prevents direct access to seaborne trade, a crucial component of economic and social advance. As such, coastal regions tended to be wealthier and more populated than inland ones. Paul Collier in his book The Bottom Billion argues that being landlocked in a poor geographic neighborhood is one of four major development traps by which a country can be held back. In general, he found that when a neighboring country experiences better growth, for landlocked countries, the effect is particularly strong, as they are limited in their trading activity with the rest of the world. He states, If you are coastal, you serve the world, if you are landlocked, others have argued that being landlocked may actually be a blessing as it creates a natural tariff barrier which protects the country from cheap imports. In some instances, this has led to more robust local food systems, Landlocked developing countries have significantly higher costs of international cargo transportation compared to coastal developing countries. Since Bosnia and Herzegovina is a new country, railways and ports have not been built for its need, there is no freight port along its short coastline at Neum, making it effectively landlocked, although there are plans to change this. Instead the port of Ploče in Croatia is used, after World War I, in the Treaty of Versailles, a part of Germany designated the Polish corridor was given to the new Second Polish Republic, for access to the Baltic Sea. This gave Poland a short coastline, but without a large harbour and this was also the pretext for making Danzig with its harbour the Free City of Danzig, to which Poland was given free access. However, the Germans placed obstacles to free access, especially when it came to military material. In response, the fishing harbour of Gdynia was soon greatly enlarged. Stettin was annexed by Poland after World War II, but Hamburg continued the contract so that part of the port may still be used for sea trade by a successor of Czechoslovakia, the Czech Republic. The Danube is a waterway, and thus landlocked Austria, Hungary, Moldova, Serbia
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Party of Free Citizens
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The Party of Free Citizens or the Free Citizens Party is a classical liberal and right-libertarian eurosceptic political party in the Czech Republic. It was founded in 2009 by Petr Mach PhD, an economist, before taking his position as MEP, he taught at two private business universities in Prague, VŠFS and VŠEM. It was in talks with Declan Ganley to be part of his EU-wide Libertas movement and its logo is a ram on a green field. Following the 2014 European Parliament election, the partys elected MEP joined the Europe of Freedom, currently, the party has one MEP elected. Several county councilors successfully ran on the ballot in 2010 local election and 38 councilors held positions in mostly small towns. The party set up ballot papers in local election 2014 as well and its members are advocates of the free market and often subscribe to the Austrian School of economic thought. They seek to tax rates and restrict state redistribution of wealth to a minimum. They also believe that downsizing the government would leave space for corruption. The membership of the party consists mostly of minarchists, anarcho-capitalists, right-wing libertarians, people can choose from two statuses, to either become a member or to be a registered supporter. Both of the statuses entitle to vote in the primary elections, however, only members can elect the leadership of the party. The Republics Leadership consists of one president and four vice-presidents, the five have a common responsibility for the party and with the help of the council they make official statements and direct the political affairs of the party. The candidacy for presidency and vice-presidency is separate and members elect them on the summit, after every elections to Chamber of Deputies the presidencys mandates is over and new leadership has to be elected. The Republics Council consists of 28 members, the Republics Leadership and 14 heads of each of the Regionals Councils and they help making decisions aka ballot papers approval for Municipalities elections and they solve misconducts etc. There are 14 districts of Czech Republic and each has its own presidency as the Republics one and they decide about new members and money for the local campaign, etc. The British racing green symbolizes freedom, the partys leader Petr Mach once stated, Freedom is a lifestyle. The secondary and supportive color is Manganese purple and this color is shared with the sister party, Liberalistene from Norway and with the main European ally, UKIP. The ram symbolizes the stubborn defensive position towards all endeavor to suppress freedom, majority of Czech media agree the largest portion of voters come from the groups of dissatisfied right-wing voters, especially of ODS, the 1990s leader of Czech right-wing politics. These voters were dissatisfied by lack of euroscepticism and paleoconservatism in program of ODS, many of them are fans of then-leader of ODS, Václav Klaus, later on a president of the country
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Classical liberalism
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Classical liberalism was first called that in the early 19th century, but was built on ideas of the previous century. It was a response to urbanization, and to the Industrial Revolution in Europe, notable individuals whose ideas contributed to classical liberalism include John Locke, Thomas Jefferson, Jean-Baptiste Say, Thomas Malthus, and David Ricardo. It drew on the economics of Adam Smith and on a belief in natural law, utilitarianism, the term classical liberalism was applied in retrospect to distinguish earlier 19th-century liberalism from the newer social liberalism. These beliefs were complemented by a belief that labourers could be best motivated by financial incentive and they opposed any income or wealth redistribution, which they believed would be dissipated by the lowest orders. Drawing on ideas of Adam Smith, classical liberals believed that it is in the common interest that all individuals be able to secure their own economic self-interest and they were critical of what would come to be the ideas of the welfare state as interfering in a free market. A landlord, a farmer, a manufacturer, a merchant, though they did not employ a single workman. Many workmen could not subsist a week, few could subsist a month, in the long run the workman may be as necessary to his master as his master is to him, but the necessity is not so immediate. The workmen desire to get as much, the masters to give as little as possible, in a free market, both labour and capital would receive the greatest possible reward, while production would be organised efficiently to meet consumer demand. For society to guarantee positive rights requires taxation over and above the minimum needed to enforce negative rights. in the late 19th century, classical liberalism developed into neo-classical liberalism, which argued for government to be as small as possible to allow the exercise of individual freedom. In its most extreme form, neo-classical liberalism advocated Social Darwinism, right-libertarianism is a modern form of neo-classical liberalism. Friedrich Hayek identified two different traditions within classical liberalism, the British tradition and the French tradition, the French tradition included Rousseau, Condorcet, the Encyclopedists and the Physiocrats. This tradition believed in rationalism and sometimes showed hostility to tradition and religion, Hayek also rejected the label laissez faire as originating from the French tradition and alien to the beliefs of Hume and Smith. Classical liberalism in Britain developed from Whiggery and radicalism, and was heavily influenced by French physiocracy. Whiggery had become a dominant ideology following the Glorious Revolution of 1688, the origins of rights were seen as being in an ancient constitution, which had existed from time immemorial. These rights, which some Whigs considered to include freedom of the press and they believed that the power of the executive had to be constrained. While they supported limited suffrage, they saw voting as a privilege, British radicals, from the 1790s to the 1820s, concentrated on parliamentary and electoral reform, emphasising natural rights and popular sovereignty. Richard Price and Joseph Priestley adapted the language of Locke to the ideology of radicalism, the radicals saw parliamentary reform as a first step toward dealing with their many grievances, including the treatment of Protestant Dissenters, the slave trade, high prices and high taxes. There was greater unity to classical liberalism ideology than there had been with Whiggery, classical liberals were committed to individualism, liberty and equal rights
26.
Terra nullius
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Sovereignty over territory which is terra nullius may be acquired through occupation, though in some cases doing so would violate an international law or treaty. Indigenous Australians had inhabited Australia for over 50,000 years before European settlement, Indigenous customs, rituals and laws were unwritten. The rationale was that Aboriginal tribal groups already operated under their own legal systems and this position was further reinforced by the decisions of R v Boatman or Jackass and Bulleyes and R v Ballard. The first decision of the New South Wales Supreme Court to make use of the term terra nullius was R v Murrell. Terra nullius was not endorsed by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council until the decision of Cooper v Stuart in 1889, the concept of terra nullius was not considered in this case, however. The courts rejected these cases, but the Australian High Court left the open for a reassessment of whether the continent should be considered settled or conquered. Later, on 1 February 2014, the owners of land on Badu Island received freehold title to 10,000 hectare in an act of the Queensland Government. In 1982, Eddie Mabo and four other Torres Strait Islanders from Mer started legal proceedings to establish their traditional land ownership and this led to Mabo v Queensland. The ruling thus had far-reaching significance for the claims of both Torres Strait Islanders and other Indigenous Australians. The controversy over Australian land ownership erupted into the so-called History wars, there is some controversy as to the meaning of the term. For example, it is asserted that, rather than implying mere emptiness, english common law of the 18th century allowed for the legal settlement of uninhabited or barbarous country. Svalbard was considered a terra nullius until the Svalbard Treaty of 9 February 1920 recognised Norwegian sovereignty over the islands, scotland or United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Denmark–Norway all claimed sovereignty over the region in the seventeenth century, but none permanently occupied the islands. Expeditions from each of these polities visited Svalbard principally during the summer for whaling, Norway occupied and claimed parts of Eastern Greenland in the 1920s, claiming that it constituted terra nullius. The matter was decided by the Permanent Court of International Justice against Norway, the Norwegians accepted the ruling and withdrew their claim. Another example of a terra nullius was Antarctica, several countries made claims to parts of the continent in the first half of the 20th century, while other areas remain unclaimed. The Philippines and the Peoples Republic of China both claim the Scarborough Shoal or Panatag Shoal or Huangyan Island, nearest to the island of Luzon, the Philippines claims it under the principles of terra nullius and EEZ. Chinas claim refers to its discovery in the 13th century by Chinese fishermen, the former Nationalist government on the Chinese mainland had also claimed this territory after the founding of the Republic of China in 1911. However, despite Chinas position of non-participation based on the UNCLOS, despite this, China continues to build artificial islands in the South China Sea and Scarborough Shoal is a prime location for another one
27.
Diplomatic correspondence
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Diplomatic correspondence is correspondence between one state and another, usually – though not exclusively – of a formal character. It follows several widely observed customs and style in composition, substance, presentation, a letter of credence or credentials is the instrument by which a head of state exercises his or her power to appoint ambassadors and ministers to foreign countries. The letter of credence is signed by the head of state and is addressed to the receiving head of state. Letters of credence date to the thirteenth century, an envoy typically receives both a sealed letter of credence and an unsealed copy. Once the envoy reaches his destination, A letter of recall is formal correspondence from one head-of-state notifying a second head-of-state that he or she is recalling his states ambassador. Their use at the present day is a recognition of the necessity of absolute confidence in the authority. Exequatur A note verbale is the most formal form of note and is so-named as it represented a formal record of information delivered orally. Notes verbale are written in the person and printed on official letterhead, they are typically sealed with an embosser or, in some cases. A collective note is a letter delivered from multiple states to a single recipient state and it is always written in the third person. The collective note has been a rarely used form of communication due to the difficulty in obtaining agreements among multiple states to the exact wording of a letter. An identic note is a letter delivered from a state to multiple recipient states. Examples include the note sent by Thomas Jefferson regarding action against the Barbary Pirates and that from the United States to China. In it, the United States called on the two powers to resolve their differences over the Eastern China Railway peacefully. A bout de papier may be presented by an official when meeting with an official from another state at the conclusion of the meeting. Prepared in advance, it contains a summary of the main points addressed by the visiting official during the meeting and, firstly. It, secondly, removes ambiguity about the subject of the meeting occasioned by verbal miscues by the visiting official, bouts de papier are always presented without credit or attribution so as to preserve the confidentiality of the meeting in case the document is later disclosed. A démarche is considered less formal than the already informal bout de papier and it has no identified source, title, or attribution and no standing in the relationship involved. The earliest forms of correspondence were, out of necessity
28.
Radio Television of Vojvodina
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Radio Television of Vojvodina is the regional public broadcaster in the Serbian province of Vojvodina. Its headquarters is in Novi Sad, formerly, it was known as Radio Television Novi Sad. In 1992 Radio Television Novi Sad, together with Radio Television Belgrade and Radio Television Priština, in 1999, the buildings of the RTNS in the Mišeluk neighborhood of Novi Sad were bombed and destroyed by the NATO airforce. After the war, the RTNS was moved to the new building in the city centre, Radio Television of Vojvodina broadcasts programme in 7 languages, Serbian, Hungarian, Croatian, Slovak, Rusyn, Romanian and Romany. Certain TV shows are also translated into Sign language, since autumn 2011, programmes and news in the German language have been broadcast as well. Radio television of Vojvodina 2, in Serbian and minority languages
29.
Dnevni avaz
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Dnevni Avaz is a daily newspaper in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Dnevni Avaz evolved from a monthly publication Bošnjački Avaz which was first published in September 1993, in 1994 it became known simply as Avaz and was published weekly in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Germany. In 1995 it was reestablished by Fahrudin Radončić as a daily newspaper and it competes with Oslobođenje and SAN Daily News. Dnevni Avaz is part of the Avaz publishing house, the biggest news house in Bosnia, the paper is based in Sarajevo and has a pro-Bosniak stance. The companys former headquarters, the Avaz Business Center, has converted into a hotel. Dnevni Avaz has published The New York Times International Weekly on Thursdays since 2009 and this 8-page supplement features a selection of English language articles from The New York Times. Dnevni Avaz Express Magazine Azra Magazine Avaz Sport Magazine Avaz Business Center Avaz Twist Tower Official website
30.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Serbia)
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Minister of Foreign Affairs is the person in charge of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Serbia. The current Minister is Ivica Dačić, since 27 April 2014 and this list includes all ministers since the dissolution of the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro in 2006. For previous ministers, see Ministry of Foreign Affairs and this list also includes Ministers of Foreign Affairs in the early 1990s, when the position briefly existed although Serbia was not an independent country at that time. The list continues as a List of Foreign Ministers of Yugoslavia, conservative Party Liberal Party Serbian Progressive Party Peoples Radical Party Independent Radical Party Non-party Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Serbia
31.
University of Chicago Law School
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The University of Chicago Law School is the graduate school of law at the University of Chicago. It was founded in 1902 by a coalition of donors led by John D. Rockefeller, U. S. News & World Report ranks Chicago fourth among U. S. law schools, and it is noted for its influence on the economic analysis of law. It is ranked 12th in the 2016 QS World University Rankings, the ABA disclosures indicate that 75% of Chicago graduates earned starting salaries of $160,000 or greater upon graduation. The law school was ranked #3 of all law schools nationwide by the National Law Journal in terms of sending the highest percentage of 2015 graduates to the largest 100 law firms in the US. During that time Beale hired many of the first members of the law school faculty, the Law School experienced a period of profound growth and expansion under the leadership of Dean Edward Hirsch Levi, AB1932, JD1935. Levi later served as university Provost and President, and then as United States Attorney General under President Gerald Ford, during his time at the Law School, Levi brought scholars to the faculty and supported the Committee on Social Thought graduate program. Legal History Program The John M. Renovated in 2006, it features a reading room. The Law Library is open 90 hours per week and employs the equivalent of 10 full-time librarians and it has study space for 483, a wireless network, and 26 networked computers. Admission to The University of Chicago Law School is highly selective, for the class entering in the fall of 2015,900 out of 4,111 applicants were offered admission, with 183 matriculating. The 25th and 75th LSAT percentiles for the 2016 entering class were 166 and 172, respectively, the 25th and 75th undergraduate GPA percentiles were 3.69 and 3.97, respectively, with a median of 3.90. The University of Chicago Law School employs a system that places students on a scale of 155-186. The scale was 55-86 prior to 2003, but since then the school has utilized a prefix of 1 to eliminate confusion with the traditional 100 point grading scale. These numerical grades convert to the more familiar alphabetical scale roughly as follows, 155-159 = F, 160-167 = D, 168-173 = C, 174-179 = B, 180-186 = A. For classes of more than 10 students, professors are required to set the grade at 177. A student graduates with honors if an average of 179 is attained, with high honors if a final average of 180.5 is attained. The last of these achievements is rare, typically only one student every few years will attain the requisite 182 average, additionally, the Law School awards two honors at graduation that are based on class rank. Of the students who earned at the Law School at least 79 of the 105 credits required to graduate, Students finishing their first or second years in the top 5% of their class, or graduating in the top 10%, are honored as Kirkland and Ellis Scholars. According to the Law Schools official 2015 ABA-required disclosures,92. 1% of the Class of 2013 obtained full-time, long-term, JD-required employment nine months after graduation
32.
Montevideo Convention
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The Montevideo Convention on the Rights and Duties of States is a treaty signed at Montevideo, Uruguay, on December 26,1933, during the Seventh International Conference of American States. The Convention codifies the declarative theory of statehood as accepted as part of international law. At the conference, United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Secretary of State Cordell Hull declared the Good Neighbor Policy, the convention was signed by 19 states. The acceptance of three of the signatories was subject to minor reservations and those states were Brazil, Peru and the United States. The convention became operative on December 26,1934 and it was registered in League of Nations Treaty Series on January 8,1936. The convention sets out the definition, rights and duties of statehood, furthermore, the first sentence of article 3 explicitly states that The political existence of the state is independent of recognition by the other states. This is known as the theory of statehood. A basic point should be emphasized, Article 1 is qualified by Article 11 because it prohibits using military force to gain recognition of sovereignty. Furthermore, Article 11 reflects the contemporary Stimson Doctrine, and is now a part of international law through article 2 paragraph 4 of the Charter of the United Nations. Some have questioned whether these criteria are sufficient, as they allow less-recognized entities like the Republic of China to claim status as states. According to the constitutive theory of statehood, a state exists only insofar as it is recognized by other states. It should not be confused with the Estrada doctrine, the conference is also notable in American history because one of the U. S. representatives was social worker and educator Dr. Sophonisba Preston Breckinridge. She was the first U. S. female representative at an international conference, in most cases, the only avenue open to self-determination for colonial or national ethnic minority populations was to achieve international legal personality as a nation-state. The majority of delegations at the International Conference of American States represented independent States that had emerged from former colonies, in most cases, their own existence and independence had been disputed, or opposed, by one or more of the European colonial empires. They agreed among themselves to criteria that made it easier for other dependent states with limited sovereignty to international recognition. Independence and sovereignty are not mentioned in article 1 of the convention, the 16 states that have ratified this convention are limited to the Americas. Notes A further four states signed the Convention on 26 December 1933, the only state to attend the Seventh International Conference of American States, where the convention was agreed upon, which did not sign it was Bolivia. Costa Rica, which did not attend the conference, later signed the convention, the committee also found that the existence of states was a question of fact, while the recognition by other states was purely declaratory and not a determinative factor of statehood
33.
Publicity stunt
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A publicity stunt is a planned event designed to attract the publics attention to the events organizers or their cause. Publicity stunts can be organized, or set up by amateurs. Such events are frequently utilized by advertisers, celebrities, athletes, organizations sometimes seek publicity by staging newsworthy events that attract media coverage. They can be in the form of groundbreakings, world record attempts, dedications, by staging and managing the event, the organization attempts to gain some control over what is reported in the media. Successful publicity stunts have news value, offer photo, video and sound bite opportunities and it is sometimes hard for organizations to design successful publicity stunts that highlight the message instead of burying it. For example, it makes sense for a company to bake the worlds largest pizza. The importance of publicity stunts is generating news interest and awareness for the concept, edward Bernays Guerrilla Marketing Photo op Media circus Media prank Stunting Viral marketing
34.
Civic Democratic Party (Czech Republic)
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The Civic Democratic Party is a liberal-conservative political party in the Czech Republic. It holds 16 seats in the Chamber of Deputies after being marginalized in the 2013 legislative election, founded in 1991 as the pro-free market wing of the Civic Forum by Václav Klaus and modelled on the British Conservative Party. The ODS won the 1992 legislative election, and has remained in government for most of the Czech Republics independence, from every elections of Chamber of Deputies until 2013 it emerged as one of the two strongest parties. Václav Klaus served as the first Prime Minister of the Czech Republic after partition of Czechoslovakia, mirek Topolánek, who succeeded him as leader of the party in December 2002, served as Prime Minister from 2006 to 2009. In the 2010 election, the party lost 28 seats, finishing second, in the 2013 legislative election, the party was marginalized by only securing 16 seats in the Chamber of Deputies, relegating the party to opposition since July 2013. The party is led by Petr Fiala, who was elected leader on a party convention in January 2014. The ODS is a member of the International Democratic Union, Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe and European Conservatives, the party was founded in 1991 as one of two successors to the Civic Forum. The ODS represented followers of Václav Klaus, and was pro-free market, an agreement was reached to split the party into two at the Civic Forum Assembly on 23 February 1991. This was followed on 21 April by a declaration of a new party. The party agreed to continue in coalition in the Czech government with the Civic Movement, the Civic Democrats, who represented demands for a tighter Czechoslovak federation, began to organise in Slovakia. The ODS won the election, winning 66 seats, and formed a coalition with the Civic Democratic Alliance. It was the dominant party in two governments in the Czech Republic in 1992–1997, a majority administration and a short-lived minority government. On 2 June 1995, the ODS and KDS signed a merger agreement, however, at the election, whilst the ODS improved to 68 seats, its allies fell, leading to the government receiving only 99 seats, two short of a majority. Klaus continued with a minority government, relying on its acceptance by the Social Democratic Party, in December 1997, allegations of the party receiving illegal donations and maintaining a secret slush fund caused the ODA and KDU-ČSL to withdraw from the coalition, and the government collapsed. Josef Tošovský was appointed caretaker, pending new elections in June 1998, at the elections, the ODS fell even further, to 63 seats, while the US won 19. Due to the split, the Freedom Union refused to support the ODS, preventing them from getting a majority, the USs executive also refused to support the ČSSD. As a result, on 9 July 1998, the ODS signed the Opposition Agreement and this agreement was then superseded by the more explicit Patent of Tolerance in January 2000. Mirek Topolánek took over the party leadership, the former Czech president, Václav Klaus, has been the partys honorary president for his first term in the office
35.
Czech Pirate Party
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The Czech Pirate Party, short - Pirates is a political party in the Czech Republic, founded in 2009. Pirate Parties were established in many European countries as a protest against the restriction of the rights by lobby groups. The main topic of the Pirate Party is information and its meaning in modern society. The Pirates are focused mainly on civil liberties, sharing of information, effective use of technologies, an integral part of their program is also transparency, e-government, direct democracy, the question of drugs, education and health-care, where the Party opposes conservative points of view. The party is a member of the Pirate Parties International and European Pirates, one of the Czech Pirates, Mikuláš Peksa, is nowadays a board member of PP-EU, another one, Vojtěch Pikal used to be a Co-chairman of PPI in 2013-2014. Based on this thesis was formulated a program with which the party run for the elections to the Chamber of Deputies in 2010. In 2011 Pirates begun to create the Pirate Program – the main document of the party. On 27 May 2009 has been submitted an application to the Interior ministry for the party registration and it registered at Czech Interior Ministry on June 17,2009. During the first two days after launching their website in April,1,800 people signed online petition for party registration, Czech law requires 1,000 signatures on paper petition for party registration. In the student elections, the Pirate Party received 7. 7% of the vote, on 28 June 2009 was held in Průhonice near Prague the constitutive forum of the party, where the board was elected and main topics of the program were declared. As the chairman was elected Kamil Horký, at the end of October 2009 in Albrechtice nad Orlicí was organized 1st meeting of the General Assembly, where were completed Statutes and a new board, commission and committee were elected. The position of a chairman gained Ivan Bartoš, in April 2012 organized the Czech Pirate party in Prague a conference of the Pirate Parties International. More than 200 representatives of Pirate parties from 27 countries attended, etc. the founder of the Pirate movement, Rick Falkvinge, the Pirate parties of Europe made an agreement to proceed together in the 2014 elections to the Europe Parliament. The party participated in the elections in May 2010. In December 2010, the party has launched its own national whistleblowing site similar to WikiLeaks called PirateLeaks, the site is intended as primary source for journalists. Standing in a senate election on 18–19 March 2011 in Kladno. In the Senate elections 2012 the Czech Pirate Party introduced three candidates, one of them was in common with two other parties. This candidate, already a well-known whistleblower Libor Michálek, was in the 2nd round elected as a Senator and it thus won an unofficial competition for „the first Pirate in parliament“
36.
Petr Mach
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Petr Mach is a Czech economist and Member of the European Parliament. He is the leader of the Free Citizens Party, Mach was chairman of the Young Conservatives, the Civic Democratic Partys youth wing, in 1997. Petr Mach earned a PhD from the University of Economics, Prague, Department of Monetary Theory, since 1998 he is the publisher and editor of the Laissez-Faire newsletter. Mach founded the Free Citizens Party in 2009, the decision to establish a new political party started after he left the ODS at the end of 2007. The ultimate decision came on 4 December 2008 when ODS decided to change its stance favorably to the Lisbon treaty and we understood that he couldn’t hold against both chambers of the Czech Parliament and the Constitutional Court. Mach also spoke at the 2014 UKIP Annual Conference, after that party had won the 2014 European Elections in the UK. Texts in English on Petr Machs official webpage Petr Mach, Joining EU Would Limit Individual Freedom Statement of the Preparatory Committee of „The Free Citizens Party of 12 January 2009
37.
Ludwig von Mises Institute
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The Ludwig von Mises Institute, often referred to as the Mises Institute, is a tax-exempt organization located in Auburn, Alabama, United States. It is named after Austrian School economist Ludwig von Mises, additional backing for the founding of the Institute came from Misess wife, Margit, Henry Hazlitt, Lawrence Fertig, and Friedrich Hayek. Through its publications, the Institute promotes anarcho-capitalist political theory and a form of economics known as praxeology. Llewellyn Rockwell has stated that the Mises Institute met strong opposition from parties affiliated with the Koch family, Rothbard was the Mises Institutes vice president and head of academic programs until his death in 1995. The Institute states that its ambition is to be the research and educational center of classical liberalism, libertarian political theory. It has reprinted works by Mises, Rothbard, Hayek, and it presents the annual Austrian Scholars Conference and Mises University, at which anarcho-capitalist thinkers meet, and Institute personnel teach and advise students. The Institute reports that its library holds nearly 35,000 volumes, early after its founding, the Mises Institute was located at the business department offices of Auburn University, and relocated nearby to its current site in 1998. According to a story in the Wall Street Journal, the Institute chose its Auburn location for low cost of living and good ol Southern hospitality. The article goes on to make a point, that Southerners have always been distrustful of government. The institute has a staff of 16 Senior Fellows and about 70 adjunct scholars from the United States, in a 2006 article published on the Wall Street Journals website, Kyle Wingfield credited the Institute for helping make the Heart of Dixie a wellspring of sensible economic thinking. To many of authors, the distinction lies not in the form of government. A2000 Southern Poverty Law Center Intelligence Report categorized the Institute as Neo-Confederate, devoted to a libertarian view of government. In 2003, Lew Rockwell responded to criticism by saying, The Mises Institute recently came under fire from one of these watchdog groups that claims to oppose intolerance. We have published revisionist accounts of the origins of the Civil War that demonstrate that the tariff bred more conflict between the South and the feds than slavery, for that, we were decried as a dangerous institutional proponent of neoconfederate ideology. Why not just plain old Confederate ideology, Mises Institute has published the writing of Mises Academy instructor Stephan Kinsella in opposition to intellectual property. Kinsella believes that intellectual property not only violate property rights. In an article written on Institute Chairman Lew Rockwells website, Jacob Huebert observes that socially liberal libertarians have often accused the Mises Institute of racism, heidi Beirich, also with the SPLC, describes the Institute as a hard-right libertarian foundation. The Mises Institute makes available a number of books, journal articles, and other writings online
38.
Tax competition
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Some observers suggest that tax competition is generally a central part of a government policy for improving the lot of labour by creating well-paid jobs. Others suggest that it is mainly for investors, as workers could have been better paid if it was not for tax competition lowering effective tax rates on corporations. Some economists argue that tax competition is beneficial in raising total tax intake due to low tax rates stimulating economic growth. It also tends to increase complexity in national and international tax systems and it has also been argued that just as competition is good for businesses, competition is good for governments as it drives efficiencies and good governance of the public budget. From the mid 1900s governments had more freedom in setting their taxes, as the barriers to movement of capital. The gradual process of globalization is lowering these barriers and results in rising capital flows, with tax competition in the era of globalization politicians have to keep tax rates “reasonable” to dissuade workers and investors from moving to a lower tax environment. Most countries started to reform their tax policies to improve their competitiveness, however, the tax burden is just one minor part of a complex formula describing national competitiveness. The other criteria like total manpower cost, labor market flexibility, education levels, political stability, legal system stability, in general tax competition results in benefits to taxpayers and the global economy. As an example, Florida once taxed all boat sales at 6% with no maximum, as a result, Florida residents did not buy large boats in the state and no sales taxes were collected. In 2010 Florida implemented a maximum $18,000 tax on boat sales, floridas Revenue Estimating Committee predicted the state would loose $1. 6M in tax revenue the first year. A survey was conducted of boat sales for 2011 and found Florida collected $13,486,000 in sales tax revenues, European Union The European Union also illustrates the role of tax competition. The barriers to movement of capital and people were reduced close to nonexistence. Some countries utilized their low levels of tax to attract large amounts of foreign investment while paying for the necessary infrastructure from EU funds. The net contributors strongly oppose the idea of infrastructure transfers to low tax countries, net contributors have not complained, however, about recipient nations such as Greece and Portugal, which have kept taxes high and not prospered. EU integration brings continuing pressure for tax harmonization as well. EU member nations must have a tax of at least 15 percent and limits the set of products. Still this policy does not stop people utilizing the difference in VAT levels when purchasing certain goods, the contributing factor are the single currency, growth of e-commerce and geographical proximity. The political pressure for tax harmonization extends beyond EU borders, some neighbouring countries with special tax regimes were already forced to some concessions in this area
39.
Libertarianism
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Libertarianism is a collection of political philosophies that uphold liberty as a core principle. Libertarians seek to maximize freedom and autonomy, emphasizing freedom of choice, voluntary association, individual judgment. Libertarians share a skepticism of authority and state power, however, they diverge on the scope of their opposition to existing political and economic systems. Various schools of libertarian thought offer a range of views regarding the functions of state and private power. Some libertarians advocate laissez-faire capitalism and strong private property rights, such as in land, infrastructure, an additional line of division is between minarchists and anarchists. While minarchists think that a centralized government is necessary, anarchists and anarcho-capitalists propose to completely eliminate the state. The first recorded use of the term libertarian was in 1789, the word was again used in a political sense in 1802, in a short piece critiquing a poem by the author of Gebir, and has since been used with this meaning. Déjacque also used the term for his anarchist publication Le Libertaire, Journal du Mouvement Social, in the mid-1890s, Sébastien Faure began publishing a new Le Libertaire while Frances Third Republic enacted the lois scélérates, which banned anarchist publications in France. Libertarianism has frequently used as a synonym for anarchism since this time. Although the word continues to be widely used to refer to socialists internationally. Libertarianism in the United States has been described as conservative on issues and liberal on personal freedom. There is contention about whether right, left, and socialist libertarianism represent distinct ideologies as opposed to variations on a theme, all libertarians begin with a conception of personal autonomy from which they argue in favor of civil liberties and a reduction or elimination of the state. Right-libertarianism developed in the United States in the century and is the most popular conception of libertarianism in that region. It is commonly referred to as a continuation or radicalization of classical liberalism, right-libertarians value the social institutions that enforce conditions of capitalism, while rejecting institutions that function in opposition to these institutions. These may be the byproducts of conservatism, one or more of its historically specific, but they are not its animating purpose. Such a view might seem miles away from the defense of the free market, with its celebration of the atomistic. When the libertarian looks out upon society, he does not see isolated individuals, he sees private, often hierarchical, groups, where a father governs his family and an owner his employees. Left-libertarianism encompasses those libertarian beliefs that claim the Earths natural resources belong to everyone in a manner, either unowned or owned collectively
40.
Index.hr
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Index. hr is a Croatian daily tabloid website, launched in November 2002 and based in Zagreb. The news site covers politics, business, sports, show business, Index. hr was founded by Matija Babić and was originally designed as a news aggregation website, providing news content from Croatia, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The website quickly grew in popularity, and over time more original content produced by the staff was being added to the site. On account of success, the Austrian-based media concern Styria Medien AG had hired Babić as editor-in-chief of 24sata. 24 sata was launched in March 2005 and immediately established itself as the daily newspaper in terms of circulation. However, it was criticized for sensationalism and poor quality of writing. Babić then returned to Index. hr and continued to run the website, Index. hr managed to keep its place among the top-visited websites in Croatia throughout the period, and has since launched a number of additional services, such as Bloger. hr and Igra. hr. According to Alexa. com analytics compiled in October 2014, Index. hr ranked 5th most visited site in Croatia, and 19th in Bosnia and Herzegovina
41.
Stratfor
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Strategic Forecasting, Inc. known as Stratfor, is an American publisher and global intelligence company founded in 1996 in Austin, Texas, by George Friedman, who was the companys chairman. Dave Sikora is president and chief executive officer, Fred Burton is Stratfors vice president of intelligence. Other executives include Chief Operating Officer Mark Ozdarski, a retired Navy SEAL officer who has worked as an investment portfolio manager, former U. S. Special Operations Command officer Bret Boyd, vice president of intelligence services. Stratfor bills itself as an intelligence and consulting firm, with revenues derived from subscriptions to its website. Stratfor has published a daily intelligence briefing since its inception in 1996, before the end of 1999, however, Stratfor had introduced a subscription service through which it offered the majority of its analyses. Stratfors publishing business includes written and multimedia analysis and an iPhone application, a monthly publication called Compass was launched in June 2014, adding a third tier to the companys subscription business model. In a public announcement, the company said Compass is designed specifically for executives in strategic industries such as energy, trade, finance. Some of Stratfors work remains available free to the public, Stratfor has published collections of analysis in paperback books on a variety of topics. Topics include user guides to personal security, the devolution of jihadism, apparently, at one point, the books were sold through a storefront on the companys website, which is no longer active. A number of the top analysts have published books in their own name. Notable among these are founder George Friedman and vice president for intelligence Fred Burton, kamran Bokhari, Stratfors vice president for Middle East and South Asian affairs, is the author of Political Islam in the Age of Democratization. Barrons once referred to Stratfor as The Shadow CIA, barrons Jonathan Laing has called Friedman one of our favorite experts on geopolitics, saying, His judgments tend to be more nuanced and long-term than those of the press or Wall Street. More recently, The Atlantics James Fallows referenced a Stratfor article on U. S. strategy in Iraq and Ukraine, the subscribers list for Stratfor is confidential. The companys publicity list includes Fortune 500 companies and international government agencies, the hacker groups Anonymous and LulzSec claimed to have made it public on December 24,2011 as part of Operation AntiSec. However, Stratfor denied that the recovered the client list. Stratfor claimed that the group recovered only a list of news subscriptions, in October 2015, Stratfor raised $12-million in funding through a growth equity investment by Dallas-based Teakwood Capital. Stratfors plan for the funding includes expanding its intelligence networks, enhancing operational infrastructure and it was reported on December 24,2011 that members of Anonymous had stolen e-mail messages and credit card data from Stratfors website
42.
Electronic voting
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Electronic voting is voting using electronic means to either aid or take care of the chores of casting and counting votes. Electronic voting technology can include punched cards, optical scan voting systems and it can also involve transmission of ballots and votes via telephones, private computer networks, or the Internet. Many insecurities have been found in commercial voting machines, such as using a default administration password, cases have also been reported of machines making unpredictable, inconsistent errors. Electronic voting technology can speed the counting of ballots, reduce the cost of paying staff to count votes manually and can provide improved accessibility for disabled voters. However, there has been contention, especially in the United States, in addition, electronic voting has been criticised as unnecessary and expensive to introduce. Several countries have cancelled e-voting systems or decided against a large-scale rollout, notably the Netherlands, Electronic voting systems for electorates have been in use since the 1960s when punched card systems debuted. Their first widespread use was in the USA where 7 counties switched to this method for the 1964 presidential election, the newer optical scan voting systems allow a computer to count a voters mark on a ballot. DRE voting machines which collect and tabulate votes in a machine, are used by all voters in all elections in Brazil and India, and also on a large scale in Venezuela. They have been used on a scale in the Netherlands but have been decommissioned after public concerns. Sometimes called a document ballot voting system, paper-based voting systems originated as a system where votes are cast and counted by hand, with the advent of electronic tabulation came systems where paper cards or sheets could be marked by hand, but counted electronically. These systems included punched card voting, marksense and later digital pen voting systems, Systems including a ballot marking device can incorporate different forms of assistive technology. In 2004, Open Voting Consortium demonstrated the Dechert Design a General Public License open source paper ballot printing system with open source bar codes on each ballot, after the election it produces a tabulation of the voting data stored in a removable memory component and as a printed copy. The system may provide a means for transmitting individual ballots or vote totals to a central location for consolidating and reporting results from precincts at the central location. These systems use a precinct count method tabulates ballots at the polling place. They typically tabulate ballots as they are cast and print the results after the close of polling, in 1996, after tests conducted on more than 50 municipalities, the Brazilian Electoral Justice has launched their voting machine. Since 2000, all Brazilian voters are able to use the ballot boxes to choose their candidates. In 2010 presidential election, which had more than 135 million voters, the electronic ballot box is made up of two micro-terminals which are connected by a 5-meter cable. Externally, the micro-terminals have only a keyboard, which does not accept any command executed by the simultaneous pressure of more than one key
43.
Monaco
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Monaco, officially the Principality of Monaco, is a sovereign city-state and microstate, located on the French Riviera in Western Europe. France borders the country on three sides while the other side borders the Mediterranean Sea, Monaco has an area of 2.02 km2 and a population of about 38,400 according to the last census of 2015. With 19,009 inhabitants per km², it is the second smallest, Monaco has a land border of 5.47 km, a coastline of 3.83 km, and a width that varies between 1,700 and 349 m. The highest point in the country is a pathway named Chemin des Révoires on the slopes of Mont Agel, in the Les Révoires Ward. Monacos most populous Quartier is Monte Carlo and the most populous Ward is Larvotto/Bas Moulins, through land reclamation, Monacos land mass has expanded by twenty percent, in 2005, it had an area of only 1.974 km2. Monaco is known as a playground for the rich and famous, in 2014, it was noted about 30% of the population was made up of millionaires, more than in Zürich or Geneva. Monaco is a principality governed under a form of constitutional monarchy, although Prince Albert II is a constitutional monarch, he wields immense political power. The House of Grimaldi have ruled Monaco, with brief interruptions, the official language is French, but Monégasque, Italian, and English are widely spoken and understood. The states sovereignty was recognized by the Franco-Monegasque Treaty of 1861. Despite Monacos independence and separate foreign policy, its defense is the responsibility of France, however, Monaco does maintain two small military units. Economic development was spurred in the late 19th century with the opening of the countrys first casino, Monte Carlo, since then, Monacos mild climate, scenery, and gambling facilities have contributed to the principalitys status as a tourist destination and recreation center for the rich. In more recent years, Monaco has become a major banking center and has sought to diversify its economy into services and small, high-value-added, the state has no income tax, low business taxes, and is well known for being a tax haven. It is also the host of the street circuit motor race Monaco Grand Prix. Monaco is not formally a part of the European Union, but it participates in certain EU policies, including customs, through its relationship with France, Monaco uses the euro as its sole currency. Monaco joined the Council of Europe in 2004 and it is a member of the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie. Monacos name comes from the nearby 6th-century BC Phocaean Greek colony, according to an ancient myth, Hercules passed through the Monaco area and turned away the previous gods. As a result, a temple was constructed there, the temple of Hercules Monoikos, because the only temple of this area was the House of Hercules, the city was called Monoikos. It ended up in the hands of the Holy Roman Empire, an ousted branch of a Genoese family, the Grimaldi, contested it for a hundred years before actually gaining control
Croatia: Liberland has been mentioned by the Croatian Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs but publicly rejected as a joke.[61] On 29 June 2015, the Croatian Ministry of Foreign affairs said that Gornja Siga's status is undetermined, but it is not terra nullius, and after international arbitration, it will be awarded to Croatia or Serbia, not to a third party.[41] However, in a May 2016 letter to the Croatian Interior Minister Vlaho Orepić, Croatian Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Miro Kovač referred to Liberland as "a provocative idea which has reached serious proportions" which "represents a risk to the Republic of Croatia." The letter called for finding a solution to "remove promotion and attempts of realization of idea of Liberland", recommending that "Ministry of the Interior, Security and Intelligence Agency (SIA), Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs coordinate necessary measures and their actions, so that this provocative idea could be stopped."[62] On 17 January 2017, Liberland was discussed and debated in the Croatian Parliament (Sabor) by politician Ivan Pernar of the Zivi Zid party, who claimed that Croatia should consider the recognition.[63][self-published source]
Serbia: The Serbian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has stated that Liberland does not infringe upon the border of Serbia, but the project is seen as "frivolous".[40]
Egypt: The Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has warned people of the possibility of scams about Liberland directed at people looking for jobs abroad. "Egyptians should seek information from the Foreign Ministry rather than social media before travelling for work."[64]
Czech Republic: The Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs disassociated itself from the activities of Mr. Jedlička, stating it has nothing to do with them, the ministry added that "Mr. Jedlička, as well as other Czech citizens staying in the territory of Croatia or Serbia, is obliged to abide by the local legal code, the Czech Republic considers the activities of Mr. Jedlička inappropriate and potentially harmful."[65] Through the Embassy of the Czech Republic in Zagreb, it warned that the "efforts to create some new 'state' have no basis in international law," and that "in the territory of Croatia, citizens of the Czech Republic as well as other foreigners are obliged to adhere to the Croatian legal code, including the current regime on the Croatian-Serbian border. Crossing the Croatian border (i.e., the external border of the European Union) outside specified border crossings, as it is done by travelers to the so-called Liberland, is in clear violation of the code."[66]
Poland: On 24 July 2016, 7 members of Polish Parliament (Sejm) from Kukiz'15 in cooperation with local Liberland activists asked Minister of Foreign Affairs Witold Waszczykowski when Poland would recognize the Free Republic of Liberland as an independent state,[67][self-published source] with a follow-up in August.[68] The reply was that Liberland does not meet the criteria for statehood.[69]
Somaliland, a self-declared state internationally recognised as an autonomous region of Somalia,[70][71] has begun the mutual recognition process with Liberland and commenced cooperation on a number of important fronts.[72]
