For almost a decade, Col. Ryszard Kuklinski betrayed the Communist leadership of Poland, cooperating with the CIA in one of the most extraordinary human intelligence operations of the Cold War. But even after freedom came to Poland a riddle remained - was Kuklinski a patriot or a traitor? In August 1972, Ryszard Kuklinski, a highly respected colonel in the Polish Army, embarked on what would become one of the most extraordinary human intelligence operations of the Cold War. Despite the extreme risk to himself and his family, he contacted the American Embassy in Bonn, and arranged a secret meeting. From the very start, he made clear that he deplored the Soviet domination of Poland, and believed his country was on the wrong side of the Cold War. Over the next nine years, Kuklinski rose quickly in the Polish defense ministry, acting as a liaison to Moscow, and helping to prepare for a hot war with the West. But he also lived a life of subterfuge - of dead drops, messages written in invisible ink, miniature cameras, and secret transmitters. In 1981, he gave the CIA the secret plans to crush Solidarity. the West. He still lives in hiding in America. Kuklinski's story is a harrowing personal drama about one man's decision to betray the Communist leadership in order to save the country he loves. Through extensive interviews and access to the CIA's secret archives on the case, Benjamin Weiser offers an unprecedented and richly detailed look at this secret history of the Cold War.

Seminar paper from the year 2013 in the subject Politics - International Politics - Region: Middle- and South America, grade: 2,0, University of Hagen (Institut fur Politikwissenschaft), course: Modul P2 - Demokratisches Regieren im Vergleich, language: English, abstract: The debate of Seymour Martin Lipset's modernization theory with its involved main claim of a strong correlation between democratization and socio-economic modernization is discussed on a deepened level by the pioneers of transformation studies. Tatu Vanhanen appositely clarified that - at the best case - developing countries are passing through a political modernization process by achieving the final stage of democracy at the same extent as their socio-economic development (Vanhanen 2003). Based on this thought the transformation scientists do widely agree: by all means, there has to be an evident interdependence between the level of socio-economic development and the ability for democracy. But is this causality a necessary or even a sufficient condition? If we want to go further into this question, Latin America might be a fruitful area. Especially in the presently proclaimed "century of globalization and power shift" there is a considerable research interest on developing global areas such as Latin America1. According to the assignment's title my research question is: how meaningful is the impact of socio-economic parameters for the democratization of postauthoritarian countries of the "Third Wave" in Latin America?"

Studienarbeit aus dem Jahr 2014 im Fachbereich Politik - Internationale Politik - Thema: Sonstiges, Note: 1,0, FernUniversitat Hagen (Institut fur Politikwissenschaft), Sprache: Deutsch, Abstract: Mit der Auflosung der Sowjetunion Anfang der 1990er Jahre ist nicht nur der Ost-West-Konflikt (OWK) Geschichte, sondern damit einhergehend auch eine wichtige Konstante im internationalen System: die Bipolaritat zwischen den USA und der Sowjetunion als den zwei Hegemonialmachten der zweiten Halfte des 20. Jahrhunderts. Aus der darauffolgenden unipolaren Stellung des einzig verbliebenen Hegemons - der USA - ist jedoch spatestens mit dem durch die Globalisierung provozierten Aufkommen neuer (Wirtschafts-)Machte Anfang des 21. Jahrhunderts eine neue Unubersichtlichkeit bzw. Unsicherheit entstanden, welche Wissenschaft, Politik und Gesellschaft gleichermassen vor grosse Herausforderungen stellt. Insbesondere die neorealistische Denkschule der internationalen Beziehungen ist durch die mangelnde Prognosekraft in Bezug auf das Ende des Kalten Krieges," v.a. durch idealistisch-liberale Gegenpositionen, in Kritik geraten. Vor diesem Hintergrund stellt sich die spannende Frage, ob der Neorealismus noch (oder wieder) geeignet ist, aktuelle Funktionslogiken in der internationalen Politik adaquat zu erklaren. Basierend auf der Annahme sich verschiebender Machtverhaltnisse in der Welt wird in der vorliegenden Arbeit folgender Fragestellung nachgegangen: wie lassen sich die bilateralen Beziehungen zwischen der EU und Brasilien anhand der neorealistischen Denkschule interpretiere