This thesis analyzes the life and power politics of Pazvandoglu Osman, Ayan of Vidin, in the 18th century with references to the changes in the Ottoman provincial administration experienced between the 17th and 18th centuries. Osman&rsquo / s relations with the Ottoman central government and the policy that the latter followed towards him will also be given to show the Ottoman methods of coping with the oppositional groups in the provinces in the case of Pazvandoglu Osman in the 18th and 19th centuries. Moreover his relations with the people of Vidin as well as with the neighboring ayans will be displayed to examine how an ayan ruled and represented people and also how important an ayan was in the development of a city. In addition a description of the Ottoman Balkans in general and Vidin in particular will also be analyzed from the point of view of their contributions to the rise of Pazvandoglu Osman within the context of cause and effect relations.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2008. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2008. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (D.Phil.)--University of Oxford, 2008. / Supervisors: Dr Rebecca Surender, Professor Robert Walker. Bibliography: leaves 287-300.

Originally presented as the author's thesis (Ph. D.)--Ankara Üniversitesi, Turkey, 2002, under the title: Osmanlı-İngiliz ilişkilerinde Balkanların yeri (Bosna-Hersek ve Bulgaristan'daki ayaklanmalar, 1875-1876). / Includes bibliographical references (p. 187-198) and index.

Ο σκοπός της παρούσας εργασίας είναι να εντοπίσει τις κύριες αιτίες της αύξησης των Άμεσων ξένων επενδύσεων στις χώρες Ελλάδα και Βουλγαρία κατά τη διάρκεια της χρονικής περιόδου 1990-2009. Υπάρχουν δύο κατηγορίες επεξηγηματικών παραγόντων. Η πρώτη αναφέρεται στη σχέση μεταξύ των μισθών και την παραγωγικότητα της εργασίας. Το εθνικό κεφάλαιο μιας αναπτυγμένης χώρας θα επενδυθεί κατά προτίμηση σε μία άλλη χώρα με μικρότερους μισθούς, εάν οι διαφορές στο εθνικό μισθολόγιο δεν υποσκελίζονται από τις διαφορές στην παραγωγικότητα της εργασίας. Η δεύτερη κατηγορία των επεξηγηματικών παραγόντων συσχετίζει τις εξαγωγές εμπορευμάτων με τις εξαγωγές κεφαλαίου για άμεσες επενδύσεις. Οι μηχανισμοί του προστατευτισμού και οι μεταβολές των συναλλαγματικών ισοτιμιών οδηγούν στην απώλεια των πρόσθετων κερδών τα οποία θα μπορούσε να πραγματοποιήσει το πιο παραγωγικό εθνικό κεφάλαιο μέσω των εξαγωγών εμπορευμάτων. Η άμεση επένδυση είναι επομένως μία κίνηση του πιο παραγωγικού εθνικού κεφαλαίου για τη διατήρηση και την αναπαραγωγή αυτών των πρόσθετων κερδών. Στις περιπτώσεις των ανωτέρω κρατών βρίσκουμε τελικά ότι η σχέση μεταξύ των μισθών και της παραγωγικότητας της εργασίας, όπως επίσης και οι μεταβολές των συναλλαγματικών ισοτιμιών μπορούν να εξηγήσουν τη συμπεριφορά των ξένων επενδυτών κεφαλαίου. Σε αντίθεση, ο παράγοντας του προστατευτισμού είναι μάλλον ανενεργός κατά τη διάρκεια της υπό εξέταση περιόδου και δεν προσφέρει κάποια εξήγηση για τις ροές των Άμεσων ξένων επενδύσεων σε Ελλάδα και Βουλγαρία. Σημαντικό ρόλο όμως παίζουν οι επενδύσεις γέφυρας και για τις δυο αυτές χώρες διότι γειτνιάζουν με μεγάλες αγορές. Οι πολυεθνικές δημιουργούν άμεσες ξένες επενδύσεις αξιοποιώντας το χαμηλό εργατικό κόστος σε χώρες όπως η Βουλγαρία για να παράγουν προϊόντα σε αυτήν με σκοπό την εξαγωγή στη διεθνή αγορά ή σε κοντινές αγορές. / --

The geopolitical area of the Carpathian Basin was situated on the boundaries of the classical Greek and Latin literacy in the 9th century. There are no internal written sources dating back to the mentioned period characterizing the societies inhabiting the area. That is the reason why the political and social situation can be observed indirectly only via external written sources and archeological methods. The Avar Khaganate was completely annihilated by the wars between the Avars and Franks and the campaigns of the Bulgars from the hypothetical political map of the 9th century Europe. Nevertheless, the internal political crisis undoubtedly contributed to the swift disintegration of Avaria, vaguely described in the primary sources. The evidence of narrative texts and archeology, however, suggest that these processes did not bring dramatic changes in the "ethnic" composition of the Carpathian Basin population. The introductory chapters of this thesis give an overview on a set of written sources and tendencies in modern archaeological research. The research part of the thesis investigates not only the possible concepts of the continuous presence of Avars in the 9th century Central Europe, but also the questions about the chronology of the Carpathian Basin settlement by the Magyar tribes. Taking into...

The combination of the socio-political changes following 1989 and the current status ofEnglish as the language of international communication promoted dynamic transformations ofthe attitude and usages of English in Bulgaria. The purpose of this study is to investigate theforms, functions and symbolic value of English in the Bulgarian advertising and journalisticdiscourse. The emphasis is on non-established words as opposed to established borrowings.Two hypotheses encapsulating the possible relation between English usages in advertising andjournalistic discourses are in the centre of investigation: Hypothesis 1 The use of the English language remains on the symbolic and visual level in theBulgarian advertising and journalistic discourses. Hypothesis 2 The symbolic value of English usage in advertising discourse is the same as thatof journalistic discourse. Prior to the analyses, the study introduces an overview of the Bulgarian linguistic situationand a summary of studies in the area of contact phenomena between English and Bulgarian.Special attention is paid to publications discussing advertising and journalistic discourse.On the base of two principles – genre and readership – six magazines have been selectedto provide the data for the study: Маниджър(Manager); Story, НашДом(Our Home),ЖенатаДнес(The Woman Today), ЖурналзаЖената(Women’s Journal), and Top GearБългария(Top Gear Bulgaria). Using a set of criteria the process of collecting data hasextracted the occurrences of English from all advertisements, section and column headings,article titles, and the featured article of each issue. English occurrences have been classifiedfirst according to their generic function and position in the textual unity, and then, accordingto symbolic value ascribed by English.The statistical data confirms that the use of English in advertising discourse is common;on average 66% of the advertisements contain English words. Cross-reference with the type offunction reveals, however, that only 17% of the English used in advertisements adds semanticvalue to the Bulgarian-English mixing. Therefore, in advertising discourse English remainsmainly a tool for adding symbolic value. As far as the journalistic discourse is concernedEnglish usages are not as frequent; nevertheless, great variations are exemplified. Suchvariation is observed in the heading data where one of the magazines contains no English inthe headings while another uses English in all but four of its headings. The findings of thestudy reject both of the hypotheses although variations are observed and have been describedin this study. The analyses demonstrate that advertising discourse uses English in order toexploit the value of English as the lingua franca of the world, while the journalistic discoursedraws on the symbolic associations of English as the language of popular culture.The results of this study provide a comparison between advertising and journalisticdiscourses. Furthermore, it offers a picture of the situation in Bulgaria twenty years after thepolitical changes and a good intermediate point in the process of spread of English, whichcontinues to modify the linguistic situation of the country.

This research analyses the extent to which three newer (European Union) EU member states, Poland, Bulgaria and Latvia have attempted and succeeded in shaping the development of the EU's energy security policy, focusing on natural gas. This explores the argument that EU membership affects the formation of national foreign and energy policy as well as procedures of policy-making, and that newer member states have also been able to shape EU level policy-making through the ‘uploading’ of national preferences. The research engages with relevant conceptual issues to develop and utilise a framework which is a synthesis of literature on EU agenda-setting, policy framing, Europeanisation and the social construction of energy ‘crises’ and (in)security. This conceptual frame is then used to explore and evaluate the influence of newer member states on EU energy policy agenda-setting, policy-making and policy implementation. Evaluating the obstacles and opportunities for influence, an empirically rich data set is analysed to test the extent to which five theoretically derived hypotheses account for member state influence. Five mechanisms are identified as potentially key factors in explaining the degree of influence which member states have. The thesis suggests that one is the impact of supply disruptions and price rises on perceptions and constructions of national and EU energy security. This can contribute towards a context that is conducive to the arguments about policy change and projection being made, a policy window, and is a reflection of the social construction of energy insecurity and energy crises. Diplomatic skill and learning to ‘play the EU game’, being active in Council summits and technocratic level(s), and engaging in consensual policy-making that adheres to EU norms and interests is seen as important. Another key factor is the role of Russia as a major and sometimes monopoly gas supplier, in constraining, enabling, and influencing the strength of national interests - the extent of political will and EU energy policy activism. A fourth factor is considered to be the extent to which institutionalised sub-EU regional and strategic alliances exist and are prioritised as an arena to develop coordinated policies and preferences. The final conceptually derived factor is related to the strength of administrative capacity, in terms of well-coordinated institutions at the national and EU level, and sufficient personnel and resources. The thesis also provides a study of the development of EU energy policy since the 1950s in chapter two, and chapters three to five focus on the three country case studies; Poland, Bulgaria and Latvia. These empirical chapters include in each case a history of their energy policy and relations with both the EU and Russia. The thesis concludes with an analysis of the empirical findings using comparative country case manner approach, along with conceptual (and methodological) observations based on the testing of the hypotheses.

The thesis attempts to analyze the international business strategy of the company C&A and its search of growth opportunities for the context of Bulgaria. The study relates to international business issues and successively provides a comprehensive overview of potential in the retail industry in Bulgaria as well as critical analysis on the interest of the company to internationalize its activity on the market. The thesis brings sufficient baseline whether to enter the market and how to be successful there.