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LAUNCHING
AN ACADEMIC QUARTERLY ON-LINE JOURNAL
NEW BALKAN POLITICS
New
Balkan Politics, is the
first Macedonian on-line journal in the area of social sciences. A group of scholars, are responsible for the launching of this journal.
Its primary goal is to cover topics in the arenas of political theory and
international relations (security, defense, ethnopolitical conflicts, etc.), in
Macedonia and, more specifically, the Balkans.
Unlike
similar journals that cover analogous themes, New
Balkan Politics, will have a multidisciplinary character, and will
strive to create a better understanding of contemporary, democratic processes in
the Balkans. The primary function of this Journal is to offer academic analyses
on the region from a comparative point of view thus, encouraging different
points of view and new perceptions. Each issue will focus on one central topic
to further promote the aforementioned function and to address the complex and
delicate topics concerning the Balkans, in both a theoretical and historical
manner.
New
Balkan Politics
will offer an opportunity to analyze and to debate topics and issues concerning
the Balkans that will inevitable need to be reassessed and evaluated. Due to an
increasingly interrelated world, these pressing issues will be examined in
relation to global development and, more importantly, to European integration.
This
Journal is emerging at a time when there is a newfound interest in the
economical, political, both nationally and internationally, and scientific
developments in the Balkans. Unfortunately, this newfound attention is due to
the tragedies that the Yugoslav nations have endured throughout the last ten
years: misunderstandings, ethnic conflicts, wars, refugee crises, material and
spiritual destruction. Thus, giving
the rest of the world a reason to label the Balkans as an area of endemic
instability.
All
scientific and political groups in the world that collect and exchange
information and analyses on the Balkans cannot possibly be listed. Currently,
many universities now offer courses concentrating on the state of affairs in the
Balkans. As a result of these courses and the numerous academicians
who have devoted their entire careers to the Balkan Issue, have published
articles concerning the Balkans during the last several years.
It
is unfortunate that political scientists from the Balkans have never had the
time or the opportunity to tell their “story.” At any rate, it is absurd
that others have shown a greater interest in affairs concerning this region than
we ourselves have. On that note, any possibility, like the one that New Balkan Politics is
offering, for an open discussion about the current state of our country and
future developments must be seized upon. This is absolutely necessary because
one of the main reasons for the conflicts in the states of the former Yugoslavia
was the ignorance of the people who, for a long time, lived in a closed world,
knowing only one side of the “truth.”
Each
day, there are many opportunities, such as New
Balkan Politics, to exchange opinions and to participate in open debates
concerning significant issues with members of the academic world from the Balkan
States. These opportunities will help to foster relationships between members of
the academic and political arenas. As
these relationships develop, they can join together to face and to overcome the
prejudices from the past and to recognize that they have a great deal in common;
the most important being that all Balkan societies become democratic, prosperous
and open. Such societies will be able to understand and accept the new European
spirit of cooperation and integration.
New
Balkan Politics surfaces
at a time when three magazines concerning social sciences in Macedonia - Perceptions,
Dialogue and Balkan Forum - have ceased to exist for a number of different
reasons. The people whose work is connected with social sciences in Macedonia
have nowhere to publish their views and research, or to compare their work with
those of others in the process of verification. We should not allow that to
happen. In this day and age, technological developments offer a rapid exchange
of information and the world (at least the developed countries) is slowly
becoming a“global village.” This on-line journal, New Balkan Politics, will
serve two main purposes. One, to
expand Macedonian and Balkan media space by providing an opportunity to incite
debates in the field of social sciences since the on-line form is so easily
accessible and two, to increase the amount of information released from the
Balkans, in order to, attract a new circle of readers as well as authors. Every electronic magazine, this being no exception, has an Internet site
that transcends local boundaries and enters the world of strong competition of
ideas and knowledge.
This
issue was supported by OSI-Macedonia and Ministry of Culture.
Maleska
Mirjana
Editor
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