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The paper presents the results of research conducted with the aim of determining the contribution of textbooks on nature and society of the first cycle of education in the countries of the Western Balkans to the formation of the concept of national symbols and features. In the theoretical part of the paper, a description of the etymology of the official national symbols and features (flag, coat of arms and anthem) of the countries of the Western Balkan region is given. The theoretical analysis method and content analysis method were used. The units of analysis are sentences of the basic textbook content, visual content - pictures, photographs, drawings and questions and assignments in the domain of didactics and methodology instruments. The research included nature and society textbooks for younger elementary school students (N = 23). The results of the research showed that nature and society textbooks insufficiently affect the formation and strengthening of the concept of national symbols and signs, and that there is imbalance in their coverage and development, both as a whole and at the level of individual categories. It has been shown that there is an approximately equal representation of content that promotes national identity, but that the textbooks in the Republic of Croatia have, compared to the others, the most content dedicated to national symbols and signs, while in terms of the representation of basic textual content and their didactic-methodological interpretation, Slovenian textbooks lead the way. The textbooks used in the European Union member states have more content related to national symbols and signs within all analyzed categories. Foreign publishers have proven to be less sensitive to the national narratives of the countries to which they intend the textbook content.

State symbols can be considered an important element of the existence of every independent state. State symbols perform important functions both internally and externally (in relation to other countries and international communities). State symbols developed and changed along with the development of the given state and society. The article deals with the development of state symbols in five Central European countries, namely the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary and Slovenia. The authors analyze the individual state symbols of these states, their development and meaning, at the same time pointing out differences, but also similarities within these European states and their often common history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Ethnologie Française is the property of Presses Universitaires de France and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Social Sciences & Humanities Studies / Društvene i Humanističke Studije (DHS) is the property of Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences, University of Tuzla and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The parallel examination of different states with their government systems is, was and will always be a necessary inurement for their in-depth knowledge and for the discovery of generalized orientations and developments. Regarding this affirmation, in the present article we intend to analyze from a comparative perspective two administrative systems, one from New Zealand and the other from South Africa, to identify the particularities in their organization and the way of functioning and to determine the similarities and differences between them. This research begins with the presentation of main identification data of the states, namely etymological explanations, continuing with the geographical locations and ending with the national emblems and flags. Afterwards, the present study provides insights into the genesis of the mentioned states, presenting brief historical records of how they appeared and developed. According to administrative-territorial organization criteria, New Zealand is divided into non-unitary and unitary regions, containing a territory as well, while South Africa is divided into provinces which, in turn, are divided into districts that are subdivided into local municipalities. From the point of view of the form of government, New Zealand is a unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy, while South Africa is a unitary parliamentary republic with an executive presidency.

Heraldic is the auxiliary science of history that deals with the research of coat of arms and vexillology is the science that emerged from heraldic and deals with the study of flags. The first town coats of arms in the South-Slavic area appeared in 13th century and some much later. Kosovska Mitrovica is a city in the North of Kosovo and Metohija in the Republic of Serbia and it got its first real coat of arms-emblem after World War Two. The municipal authorities announced the competition for the new coat of arms that was published in "Vecernje Novosti" in 2011. Nine works participated in the competition. The five-member panel that was supposed to chose the ideal solution suggested the municipal authorities to annul the competition since no option was appropriate for them. The municipal authority annulled the competition but they noticed the its mistake soon and corrected it very quickly after that. In that way municipality Kosovska Mitrovica got its coat of arms and a flag as well. The coat of arms of Kosovska Mitrovica municipality fully reflects its historical, cultural, religious, geographic and economic features but also the natural elements of the Kosovska Mitrovica municipality with its distinctive features. The coat of arms exists in three forms: small, medium and large depending of municipality's need and in accordance with the unwritten heraldic practice regarding the use of coat of arms of cities and municipalities in the Republic of Serbia. The municipal flag is represented on the large coat of arms of the municipality but it is also used as a separate symbol of the municipality.

The main idea of the article is how the early Russian symbols influenced the formation of heraldic images of the PRC in 1949. The author analyzes, how the same symbols can be interpreted depending on the cultural and political context. It becomes obvious, that the PRC relied on the experience of the USSR in forming its symbols that mark power. Based on the idea of Lenin's concept of building socialism and how the results of the 1917 revolution affected the future of Russia, China was able to «avoid the mistakes» of the USSR and build its own socialism, but with the Chinese characteristics

Michael Billig's idea of "banal nationalism" is a useful concept to approach a frequently neglected aspect of Venezuelan political disputes in the past 20 years. In Billig's formulation, banal nationalism is the constant reaffirmation of a nation's identity, through the display of national symbols. After Hugo Chavez rose to power, there were changes to Venezuela's flag, coat of arms, and banknotes. This aroused disputes that served as a micro-cosmos of Venezuela's larger confrontation. This article reviews the disputes over the changes made to those national symbols. It concludes that, although political and economic issues are at stake in Venezuela's current crisis, there are also ongoing culture wars. In that sense, an analysis of Venezuela's recent crisis would be incomplete without a consideration of its banal nationalism disputes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The independence of the Republic of Moldova has determined a new prestige of the judicial power in our country. In the field of symbols, this change was manifested in the gradual abandonment of the totalitarian, in effect, Soviet corporate emblems and the spontaneous adoption of new corporate emblems, universal in essence, traditional and easily recognizable. In the first stage, several judicial institutions developed their own para-heraldic emblems based on the image of goddess Themis, which have different artistic solutions and quality. At the next stage, with the foundation of the National Committee of Heraldry under the President of the Republic of Moldova in 1995, state institutions, including those related to the justice system, gradually opted for developing new corporate heraldic and vexillological symbols in accordance with universal and national scientific standards, up to their official registration in the General Armorial of the Republic of Moldova. The new heraldic emblems feature balance scales, a symbol with a very rich tradition in the Romanian principalities. There are a number of other emblems of justice, e.g. a sword, a gladium, fasces lictoriae, a magistrate’s hat. The process of developing of coats of arms and flags of the bodies of justice continues to this day. The author reviews new corporate emblems and flags of some institutions of the Republic of Moldova, such as the Constitutional Court, the Prosecutor’s Office, the Ministry of Justice, the Forensic Science Center under the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the criminal investigation services of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Politics is shaped by people's ideas and perceptions of how society should be organized and how the state should function. People's values are influenced by the traditions, mentality and worldview of a social group. Their attitudes to the state, politics and power constitute a political culture. Political culture determines the norms of human behavior in the political sphere, establishes a certain framework, members of society either accept this form or contribute to the formation of a new vector. The authors share the views of those scientists who believe that political culture cannot be isolated from the context of socio-political relations and socio-economic activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The parallel examination of different states with their government systems is, was and will always be a necessary inurement for their in-depth knowledge and for the discovery of generalized orientations and developments. Regarding this affirmation, in the present article we intend to analyze from a comparative perspective two administrative systems, one from New Zealand and the other from South Africa, to identify the particularities in their organization and the way of functioning and to determine the similarities and differences between them. This research begins with the presentation of main identification data of the states, namely etymological explanations, continuing with the geographical locations and ending with the national emblems and flags. Afterwards, the present study provides insights into the genesis of the mentioned states, presenting brief historical records of how they appeared and developed. According to administrative-territorial organization criteria, New Zealand is divided into non-unitary and unitary regions, containing a territory as well, while South Africa is divided into provinces which, in turn, are divided into districts that are subdivided into local municipalities. From the point of view of the form of government, New Zealand is a unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy, while South Africa is a unitary parliamentary republic with an executive presidency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Tyragetia is the property of National Museum of History of Moldova and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The interpretation of national symbols, as socio-cultural practices that produce and disseminate ideology, change constantly throughout historical periods and within cultural areas. This article focuses on the origin and spread of national symbols and nationalism in nineteenth-century Colombia. It examines Colombian national symbols such as the coat of arms, the flag and the national anthem in order to determine how these national symbols were used in the early nineteenth century by a Colombian nationalist elite, composed of 'official intellectuals' to construct a 'patria cultural'. The article seeks to demonstrate that the national symbols produced and institutionalized in nineteenth-century Colombia were European imitations of French and German nationalist models and, therefore, were the results of the affiliation of Colombian republican intellectuals to the European liberal national project of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The article concludes that the construction of the nineteenth-century 'patria cultural' has ever since prevented the emergence of an organic and more democratic modern nation state in Colombia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

La commune de Lipnic, district (raion) d'Ocniţa est formée de deux villages - Lipnic (première mention le 19 septembre 1436) et Paustova (première mention le 20 décembre 1437). Les deux villages n'ont pas porté de symboles héraldiques et vexillologiques historiques. Les armoiries et les drapeaux des deux villages, ainsi que ceux de la commune, ont été élaborés et approuvées en 2011-2012, à l'initiative du maire Valentina Lupulciuc. La commune de Lipnic est la deuxiemme commune de la République de Moldavie, qui a résolu le problème des symboles héraldiques en complex, créant trois paires d'enseignes en relation organique. Outre la méthode traditionnelle des armes parlantes, la méthode d'assomption des armes historiques liées à un territoire a été de même utilisée. Ainsi, ont été reprises les armoiries des boyards moldaves de la fin du XIVe siècle - la première moitié du XVe siècle: seigneur Vâlcea de Lipnic et seigneur Mihail de Dorohoi, le premier propriétaire connu des deux domaines. Leurs armes sont connus d'après leurs sceaux, apposeés sur des actes d'hommage des princes régnants de Moldavie au roi de Pologne, conservées aujourd'hui dans les archives polonaises. Les nouveles enseignes ont été conçues par l'auteur et dessinées par le peintre Iurie Caminschi.

When the government of Botswana introduced the country's Pula currency in 1976 there had been significant involvement of the public in coming up with the name for the currency. A public debate also took place regarding which national symbols were to appear in the new currency. While these issues are fairly well known in the history of Botswana, no attention has been given to a brief but important debate raised by the historian Neil Parsons in early 1975 about the inappropriateness of the shield that appears in the national coat of arms, and was most likely to appear in the new currency. Parsons argued that the shield was of Zulu origin and not Tswana, and he was supported by the president of the opposition Botswana National Front (BNF) and former chief of the Bangwaketse, Bathoen Gaseitsiwe. This paper brings to light and assesses Parsons' debate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Medieval sources often mentioned violence against flags, in a military context or not: these practices can be explained by the importance attached by medieval justice to visual elements in the exercise of punishment. Flags bore emblems, that is, signs that stated the identity of a person, so they could be regarded as a projection, a substitute, of their owners. This special status is evidenced by practice and official documentation: for example, the dukes of Burgundy of House Valois insisted, in their military orders, on the importance, and the obligation, for soldiers, of respecting and obeying flags. As a consequence, violence against flags could be regarded as a form of punishment in absentia: the exhibition of flags seemed very much like a pillorying of their owner, and their destruction a killing.