In this article the authors describe what forms of political participation, outside the electoral process, the populations of twenty-one European countries tend to employ and to what degree. They identify three types of non-electoral political participation: active-conventional, active-demonstrational, and passive participation. Overall non-electoral political participation is considerably lower in the post-communist and Mediterranean countries than in the Western European and Scandinavian countries. In the latter countries the passive type of political participation is clearly a much stronger form of participation than the other two types. Conversely, in the Mediterranean countries passive participation is weaker and is exceeded in places by the active-conventional type of participation. The Mediterranean area is also notable for the unusually strong presence of the active-demonstrational type of participation. The authors also examine the social micro-and macro-conditions related to these three types of political participation. In conclusion they attempt to address the question of whether there is a connection between political activity and satisfaction with the way democracy works.
In the paper, dealing with a question of Lahiri (1999), we study the uniqueness of meromorphic functions in the case when two certain types of nonlinear differential polynomials, which are the derivatives of some typical linear expression, namely h n (h − 1)m (h = f, g), share a non-zero polynomial with finite weight. The results obtained in the paper improve, extend, supplement and generalize some recent results due to Sahoo (2013), Li and Gao (2010). In particular, we have shown that under a suitable choice of the sharing non-zero polynomial or when the first derivative is taken under consideration, better conclusions can be obtained.
Polka and polkomanie in the Bohemia of the 1830' and 1840' was first a manifestation of the energy of the young dynamic bourgeoisie profiting from all features, which could help to build the national identity and finally result in the creation of the national state. The proofs of the Czech and popular origin of the polka came out at the same time. Many of them were soon considered just a speculation while others played an important role. The aim of the study is to investigate what was the particular reason why polka has always been considered a Czech national dance and what features were picked up from music and dance for building the identity or the national look. This approach involves principal questions such as: when did polka become the national symbol in Bohemia, how, for whom and why and what the concept of polka in Bohemia was when it started to be meaningful in the national movement? To answer these questions we have to look at some crucial facts which enable us to follow polka as a cultural text in different strata of the 19th century society in Bohemia and to identify its power. Polka considered as a myth has to be seen in the socio-cultural context and in ideological and political discourse. Its look of the Czech national symbol was created in symbolic level as a mental representation of the national circle of intellectuels and artists.