The working definition of a “succession crisis” is based on the presumption that stability is a critical factor in a political system. The system becomes vulnerable if something deprives it of its steadiness and pushes it out of balance. A monarch in the medieval political system played the role of the stability factor which was supposed to harmonize contrary interests of different groups and circles in a kingdom. A “succession crisis” erupts when there is no political agreement regarding who should step into the role of a deceased monarch, i.e., who shows the most promise in achieving the goals of stability, harmony and a balance of power. The thrones in Central Europe were emptied nearly simultaneously at the turn of the fourteenth century. Since politics cannot bear a vacuum, these unexpected vacancies opened the field for new candidates to the throne(s). The paper reflects on three subjects. First, it raises the question of a “succession crisis” as a methodological tool for studying politics in the Middle Ages. Secondly, it outlines the stances of the modern Polish historiography on Łokietek’s coming back to power between 1305 and 1314 and his puzzling popularity among the nobility of Little Poland. It also reveals recent opinions of Polish historians about the Bohemian rule in Poland in the turn of the fourteenth century. Finally, the paper applies the concept of “succession crisis” and switch the focus of Łokietek’s attempts for the throne from a political microhistory to a picture of greater regional range. and Wojciech Kozłowski.
Art of seeing, John Rajchman argues in his essay, was in the center of Michel Foucault’s critical attention as well as practice. Foucault himself was a visual thinker and writer. More importantly, however, the ways in which historically changing vision determines not only what is seen, but what can be seen, are one of his major concerns. Rupture with self-evidences is then the first step one must take to make the invisible - yet not hidden - power visible. The invisibility of power, seen as the invisible light that makes other things visible, is what makes it tolerable. Knowledge and the practice of knowing themselves are constructed by the technology of the visual, such as the different types of spaces that bring about specific visibility. In Foucault’s histories, the prison or the clinic are such spaces that have visualized criminality, sexuality or madness in particular manner. However, problematization of these things needs to go beyond new ways of looking at them and has to question their entire field of vision. This implies that Foucauldian ethics is less concerned with what we do about things themselves, instead, it rather asks how we see them in the first place and how can they be seen differently. It thus requires not to look within us, on the contrary, we should look out, from outside of ourselves., John Rajchman., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Kritickú diskurzívnu analýzu (KDA) autorka predstavila predovšetkým z hľadiska súboru teoretických predpokladov, ktoré konceptualizujú vzťahy medzi diskurzom, poznaním, ideológiou a sociálnym subjektom. Poukázala na varietu predpokladaných súvislostí medzi subjektom a diskurzom, a to v kontexte posunu od štrukturalistickej paradigmy k postštrukturálnej, od jednostrannej determinácie k determinácii dialektickej. Z hľadiska metodologického autorka poukázala na tie teoretické zdroje (sociolingvistická teória jazyka, pragmadialektická teória argumentácie), ktoré prispeli k premene analýzy diskurzu na kritickú, systematickú a transdisciplinárnu metódu analýzy textu v makro a mikrospoločenských súvislostiach. V závere autorka naznačila výzvy, ktorý KDA (vrátane interdisciplinárneho a transdisciplinárneho prístupu) pre sociálnu psychológiu predstavuje.
Orientální ústav AV ČR uspořádal od 30. března do 1. dubna 2016 již 13. výroční konferenci Evropské asociace taiwanských studií (European Association of Taiwan studies - EATS). Téma konference „Mocní a bezmocní“ koresponduje s výzkumným záměrem „Moc a strategie politického a společenského řádu“, který ústav řeší od začátku roku 2015. Úvodní přednášku „The Powerful and the Powerless: Re-Examining and Reframing Taiwan’s History“ přednesl prof. Bruce Jacobs z Monash University., The 13th Annual Conference of the European Association of Taiwan Studies (EATS) took place in Prague between March 30 and April 1, 2016. The main theme of the conference was Powerful and Powerless. The conference was a collaboration between the EATS Board and the Oriental Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences., and Táňa Dluhošová.
Diskusní příspěvek upozorňuje na některé slabiny studie Jiřího Macháčka k charakteru mocenského uspořádání Velké Moravy, a to jak po stránce metodologické a metodické, tak po stránce faktické. and The discussion paper highlights certain methodological and methodical weaknesses in Jiří Macháček’s article on the possible nature of the power arrangement in Great Moravia.
Bruno Latour’s article challenges the preconceived notions with which the scholars have approached the Great Divide between prescientific and scientific cultures. In order to account for the immense effects of science and technology without assuming a single grand cause for them, he suggests to focus on many, small unexpected and practical sets of skills to produce images, and to read and write about them. However, only those changes that intervene favorably in the agonistic situation in science should be considered. Crucial in this respect is the emergence of numerous “immutable mobiles” - easily transported, accumulated, combined, yet lasting objects - which made possible the mobilization of new scientific inscriptions and of new ways of looking at and presenting them. They help to constitute an optically consistent visual culture with such technologies as printing press. Their combination on the surface of paper and subsequent mobilization of allies can usher in bureaucratic mode of domination over the world and people in the scientific field. The effects of science and technology thus become a question of a shift in power relations enabled by the manipulation of inscriptions., Bruno, Latour., and Obsahuje bibliografii