East European History

51-57

Authors: Sergey I. Degtyarev

The article is devoted to illegal actions of the civil officials in the Russian Empire, such as bribery and extortion. Relying on the works of the past and modern researchers, as well as on the archival materials, the authors came to the conclusion that one of the sources of bribery in the Russian Empire was the feudal system of "feedings", which lasted until the second half of the XVIII century. The government measures taken against bribery and extortion were ineffective and often were declarative, which led to the "conservation" of a negative image of the officialsin the society.These offenses were so deeply ingrained in the bureaucratic and social systems of the Empire, that many of the contemporaries perceived them as a necessary component of the relationship between people and the representatives of the authorities. The officials who were suspected of bribery were rarely punished for this crime.

66-78

Authors: Peter Mičko

Foreign trade represented highly important role in the Slovak economy in the years 1939 – 1945. Ironically, when compared with the present days, where we face problems with passive trade balance, Slovakia had to cope with danger of unlimited export abroad. Majority of Slovak products found their place within the empty European markets with no major difficulties. Since, for Slovakia, foreign trade represented very important factor, at the very beginning of the state was passed the act which continued the trade treaties of the former Czechoslovak Republic. By passing the Act No. 2/1939 the first Slovak Republic also accepted all trade treaties which had been signed by the Czechoslovak Republic and other states. Doing so, the new state clearly declared rules of the foreign trade policy at its very beginning.