Articles

A flurry of creative activity in the Slovenian city of Maribor, one of the European Capitals of Culture 2012, obscures the absence of a coherent and sustainable concept for the city’s cultural sector. Independent publishers like Dialogi are left facing an uncertain future.

Two recent books on the Armenian cult of the dead function as symbolic materialization of the myth of return among assimilated Hungarian-Armenians and constitute an important act of collective memory-formation among this diaspora community, writes anthropologist Kinga Kali.

Higher education cuts in the UK are hijacking the pursuit of knowledge. The perception has become entrenched that the role of academics is to serve business and do whatever the government decides is necessary for the economy, writes Thomas Docherty.

As authoritarianism casts its shadow over modern liberal democracies, Rastko Mocnik identifies two forms of neo-fascism in Slovenia: one cultural, the other technocratic. Why have these emerged? What kind of social dynamic underpins them?

The global debt crisis is encouraging economists and others to explore alternative ways of measuring national wealth and productivity. In conversation with Almantas Samalavicius, the economist Mark Anielski discusses the possibility of an economic system based on wellbeing rather than unlimited growth.

Geopolitics is not quite as simple as it is often made to appear. Karl Palmås and Jonas Lindberg explore the concealed relationships between global capital and bio-engineering, the ambiguous dependencies of rich and poor nations, and the nature of society itself in the modern world.

As the new Polish middle class seeks to establish its own identity and to break with the traditional ethos of the central European intelligentsia, it may find a model for integration with the broader international community through the experience of merchants once based in the Polish sector of the Russian empire.

Choreography replaces vision in a leaden US election campaign, writes George Blecher. No amount of media hype can disguise voters’ sense that neither candidate is offering a significant variation on the status quo.

As an independent, self-financing publication, Blätter is a relative exception in the journals field. So far, it has not felt the impact of recession, says editor Daniel Leisegang, who sees the big challenges in generating demand for political content and keeping pace with media change.

A long-standing media diversity policy in Sweden means journals such as Glänta and Ord&Bild enjoy an exceptional degree of stability. The question is how, amidst the massive changes affecting other media, they can turn the particular character of the cultural journal into a strength.

Heavy dependency on steadily declining state funds makes the situation for Czech journals unsustainable, says Host editor Marek Seckar. As a small sector of the cultural budget, journals funding barely registers wider policy trends. It is precisely this inconspicuousness that gives cause for concern.

With sharp drops in advertising revenue and drastic public cuts, the financing system for Greek journals has never been less transparent. As the “networking” factor attains new levels, meritocracy seems a far-off dream says Intellectum editor Victor Tsilonis.

Internationalizing itself following a 100 per cent defunding by the Arts Council of England, Mute magazine is developing new publishing strategies in the digital field while retaining a strong commitment to the long-form text, writes director Simon Worthington.

In Poland, policy for journals funding is all about “professionalization”, writes Res Publica Nowa editor Artur Celinski. Declining subsidies together with a sluggish sales climate obliges the young journal to diversify into areas beyond strictly publishing.

Swingeing funding cuts with worse expected has left Slovenian journals to a death by instalments, writes Sodobnost editor Evald Flisar. The new government’s disdain for national culture combines with a unhealthy proximity to the corporate sector to marginalize the cultural community.