De-facto states constitute an interesting and important anomaly in the international system of sovereign states. No matter how successful and efficient in the administration of their territories they are, they fail to achieve international recognition. In the past, their claims for independence were based primarily on the right to national self-determination, historical continuity and claim for a remedial right to secession, based on alleged human-rights violations. Since 2005, official representatives of several de facto states have repeatedly emphasised the importance of democracy promotion in their political entities. A possible explanation of this phenomenon dwells in the belief that those states which have demonstrated their economic viability and promote the organization of a democratic state should gain their sovereignty. This article demonstrates the so called “democracy-for-recognition strategy” in the case study of Abkhazia. On the basis of the field research in Abkhazia we identify factors that promote, as well as those that obstruct the democratisation process in the country.

This paper discusses the competing processes between Moldovan and Romanian identities for the creation of a national identity in the Republic of Moldova. The issue of a common national identity for the people of the Republic of Moldova has been a problem since the beginning of this state’s independence. Throughout the 25 years of independence, different concepts of a Moldovan nation have competed in public, scientific, and political discourse. As a result of the historical context, the region has a linguistic specificity, which is based on the example of the Romanians, Moldovans, and Russians living in this region. Through archival research, field research, and interviews with Moldovan intellectuals and officials, this study recognizes the need for a national identity in the creation of unity and a sense of nationalism for Moldovan citizens.

The paper is focused on the economic problems of de facto states in the post-Soviet space after Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014, creation of the Eurasian Economic Union in 2015 and the signing of the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement between the EU and Georgia and Moldova with effect from 2016. It analyzes long-term economic strategies of Transnistria, Nagorno-Artsakh, South Ossetia-Alania and Abkhazia in the context of such changes. On the basis of statistical analyzes their economic problems, which are closely connected with developments in Russia and its geopolitical interests.

The recognition of the autocephaly of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) by the Ecumenical Patriarchate in 2019 sparked a debate in the Orthodox world about the legitimacy of such an act. In the present study, we aim to explain, through the concept of theopolitics, this event which has caused a schism in the contemporary Orthodox Church. Following a brief introduction to Buber’s concept of theopolitics, we focus on a historical overview, demonstrating that the problems of the Orthodox world do not originate in theological issues, as it might seem at first glance, but primarily in political issues. The case of the autocephaly of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church proves the importance of theopolitics.

This article analyses Japanese geopolitics of the imperial period by employing critical-geopolitical approaches to examine its formal and practical discursive levels. Its main objective is to explore classic Japanese geopolitical imagination juxtaposed to political (geo)propaganda, from the perspectives of space and their ideological origin. It starts by presenting selected autochthonous contexts and investigates how some Asian and non-Asian geopolitical ideas emerged in Japan. Afterwards, it turns to selected actors involved in the formal discourse, ranging from the academia to religious authorities, and confronts them with the practical discourse of political practice. A partial aim here is to localize some ideological elements supporting the classic geopolitical imagination and its role in legitimizing imperial ideologies. The analysis offers insights into the politization of spatial imagination in Japan of the imperial period. It is accompanied by a cartographic representation and an overview matrix of discursive actors.