The topic of this essay is the development of ideas of socio-political typology of prestate societies. We began by pointing out the anchoring of these typologies in neo-evolutionist conceptions of development, particularly Sahlins and Service’s distinction between general and specific evolution. We then introduced Kalervo Oberg’s conceptions, which are significant in establishing the concept of chiefdom. This is followed by Elman Service’s interpretation of the classical sociopolitical typology, which distinguished between bands, tribes, chiefdoms and states. Service’s typology, which classified societies on the basis of the complexity of their political organization, is contrasted with Morton Fried’s approach, which divided societies in terms of the criterion of social inequality into egalitarian, ranked, stratified, and state. The interpretation of the classifications of forms of sociopolitical organization is concluded by the approach of Allen Johnson and Timothy Earle, who chose the geographical size of a given political unit as the key criterion. We consider this last typology to be the most fruitful, with the advantage of avoiding controversial concepts such as tribe and classifying societies using more logical criteria that better capture the logic of the gradual increase in political complexity.
The study presents the project of an unrealized tramway line between Chomutov and Jirkov, planned between 1978 and 1991, within the context of the specific urban and demographic development of the North Bohemian region. Based on previously unpublished archival sources, the paper elucidates how state interests in brown coal mining caused a radical transformation of the settlement structure into an unsuitable linear city. The intended introduction of a tram systém at the turn of the 1970s and 1980s was therefore not merely a technical solution to the collapse of bus transport; it also became a key tool of spatial policy aimed at ensuring the functionality of a vast agglomeration of housing estates. Furthermore, the study details the development of various design stages, which had to respond effectively to difficult terrain, grade-separated crossings, and plans involving the demolition of Chomutov’s historical center. The final part of the work sheds light on the reasons for the project’s definitive abandonment after 1989. Alongside official negligence and the ineffective coordination of pre-1989 planning, a decisive role was played by social changes that, in the new political climate, prioritized the more economically efficient trolleybus system.
This study deals with the travelling activities of the nobility based in Austria-Hungary and its successor states during the 19th and the 20th centuries. Its particular aim is to sort out these activities in nine types of travelling, based on the motivation that stood behind each journey. The division of the travelling activities into just tourism and antitourism is considered too simplistic, therefore, the travelling activities are divided into 1) annual circulation of the nobility, 2) journeys to spas, mondain summer resorts and European centres, 3) sport activities in which mainly hunting and motorist journey belong, 4) scientific and explorative voyages, 5) journeys made within the military service, 6) diplomatic journeys and stays, 7) excursions made to learn about the culture, policy and life in the foreign countries, 8) journeys to cultural events and 9) touristic activities. Each type is supported by the examples based on the archival sources, published and unpublished books, travelogues and letters of the nobility.
The article analyzes the Prague phase of the Eurasian movement (1921–1938) as an epistemological experiment applying structural linguistics to questions of civilizational identity and geopolitics. The premise is that Eurasianism was not merely a political manifesto of Russian émigré intellectuals, but a complex scholarly theory shaped in dialogue with the Prague Linguistic Circle. Through analysis of three key thinkers – Nikolai Trubetzkoy, Petr Savitsky, and Lev Karsavin – the article reconstructs the mechanism of transfer of the structural method from language to civilization (geostructuralism) and identifies its epistemological limits: the conflation of descriptive and normative claims, the reproduction of Orientalist asymmetry despite proclaimed anti-universalism, and the postulation of a civilizational subject without the voices of those it claimed to represent. Braudel’s longue durée and concepts of postcolonial theory (Said, Spivak) serve as comparative frameworks. The article concludes that the lasting contribution of the Eurasian legacy lies not in its political programme, but in its epistemological gesture: conceiving space as an active formative force shaping culture, language, and identity.
Book review on Peter Salner: Prach alebo popol. Kremácia v židovskej komunite na Slovensku z pohľadu etnológie. Bratislava: Marenčin PT, 2023, 136 s.
