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Testing Fiscal Sustainability in Bosnia And Herzegovina

Author(s): Aldin Međedović,Merdža Handalić Plahonjić / Language(s): English / Issue: 28/2023

Keywords: fiscal policy; fiscal sustainability; time series; cointegration;

Considering contemporary economic trends and the importance of fiscal policy instruments for ensuring macroeconomic stability, the research focuses on fiscal sustainability. Accordingly, special attention is paid to the empirical approach to fiscal sustainability, where the central question in considering the long-term sustainability of public finances is the concept of intertemporal budget constraint. The potential cointegrating relationships between public revenues and public expenditures, which represent the basic condition for fiscal sustainability, were tested on the example of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Testing the cointegration of time series was performed using the Engle-Granger two-step procedure and then using the Johansen procedure based on the VAR model. Finally, based on the above, the results of the fiscal sustainability analysis of Bosnia and Herzegovina were summarized, which are relevant for defining macro-fiscal goals and development-oriented policies.

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Being Roma: Impressions of the Book “Cenotaph for the Murdered Roma from Tešanj” by Amir Brka

Author(s): Hajrudin Somun / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2023

Keywords: Amir Brka; Roma minorities; Tešanj; World War II;

In April 2022, which today slips away from the being, but not the memory of the human individual, there were several dates of all three monotheistic faiths that rarely occur in exactly one month. Although in Bosnia and Herzegovina, it could be like that every month due to its religious interwinement that is forcibly unraveled by the butchers of Balkan nationalisms. One date is the eighth of April, which the United Nations declared Roma Day, who wander around the world, religions and languages, but also unconsciously preserving something of the civilization from their ancestral homeland of India.

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How a German Diplomat Jeopardizes Bosnian Democracy: A Controversial Intervention in the Balkan State’s Recent Elections Risks Empowering Nationalist Extremists

Author(s): Jasmin Mujanović / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2023

Keywords: Bosnia and Herzegovina; Nationalism; Office of High Representative (OHR); Christian Schmidt; electoral reform process; SDA; SDP; SNSD; HDZ;

Before Russia’s latest invasion of Ukraine in February and the ensuing carnage against the country’s civilian population unleashed by Russian occupation forces, it was Bosnia and Herzegovina that held the dubious distinction of witnessing the deadliest war in Europe since 1945. For the nearly 30 years since the conclusion of the Bosnian War, the country has held another ignominious title: the most complex constitutional and electoral regime in the world.

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Letter to Secretary of State Blinken

Author(s): David Pettigrew,Kenan Arnautović,Dženita Pašić,Mead Mišić,Vildana Bijedić,Azem Dervišević,Patrick McCarthy,Esad Boškailo,Akif Cogo,Neira Davis,Jordan Steven Sher,Senada Zatagić,Erol Avdović,Nerina Sivonjić,Keith Doubt,Zana Bajrić,Mirza Bijedić,Ermin Vila,Smail Vila,Bill Carter / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2023

Keywords: Working Group for Bosnia and Herzegovina; Anthony J. Blinken; Secretary of State;

Letter to Secretary of State Blinken by the Working Group for Bosnia and Herzegovina

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Unfolding the obscure image of Ben in Doris Lessing's Ben in the world (2000)

Author(s): Zahra Rahimnouri / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2022

Keywords: narration; focalization; mind style; free indirect thought; Ben, in the World;

This paper studies the unusual character of Ben, who seems not to be adequately understood and is exaggeratedly foregrounded as somebody except a normal human being. To reach a more comprehensive picture of Ben, we examine different characters' mental functioning, narrative lines, points of view, and voices, especially Ben's, the story's protagonist, through the lens of narratology and focalization. Furthermore, Ben's clauses are analyzed more in detail through the technique of free indirect thought (FIT) to learn more about Ben's mental functioning, his consciousness, and the interactions between him and the world around him. Finally, we discuss that different narrations show that Ben has a simple, child-like, animal-like, and deviant mind style or is too passive to alter his situation, but the analysis of his narration shows something different, and it seems that he is not understood adequately by other characters.

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Magic Dead of Winter

Author(s): Adin Ljuca / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2023

Keywords: Adin Ljuca; Bosnian poetry;

Poetry by Adin Ljuca ("Magic Dead of Winter")

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Female quest for identity in D.G. Lawrence’s Sons and lovers and Doris Lessing’s the Golden notebook

Author(s): Ghazal Mansoor Al-Sakkaf / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2022

Keywords: Feminism; feminist literary criticism; female self-identity; Mrs. Morel; Anna Wulf;

The female quest for self-identity has become one of the most important topics that attract the attention of many literary writers after the development of the Feminist Movement. Women strongly fight to become an integral part of society with separate self-identity. This battle, however, is full of obstacles and sacrifices. So, this article is an attempt to highlight some of those obstacles and the role of women in overcoming them to reach their wholeness and identity in modern English fiction. To fulfill this purpose, two female characters from two different novels are selected as a sample. They are Mrs. Morel, the protagonist of Sons and Lovers (1913) by D.H. Lawrence, and Anna Wulf, the protagonist of The Golden Notebook (1962) by Doris Lessing. A close reading of some actions by the female characters is conducted to analyze their behavior from a feminist perspective. At the end of the analysis, it is shown that both female characters show a good example of strong women who could utilize their disappointments and change them as a means to success. Mrs. Morel proves her strength in taking her husband's place at home when she notices his failure as a father to embrace her children and plan their future and Anna Wulf proves her strength in changing her five failed love relationships into a motive for living a better life in ways she feels them proper not which men or society dictate.

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The French Cotton

Author(s): Ćamil Sijarić / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2023

Keywords: Ćamil Sijarić; The French Cotton; Bosnian literature;

Fragment from the novel "The French Cotton" by Ćamil Sijarić

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A military discourse and stylistic variation: language use in Odogbo army barracks in Ojoo-Ibadan Nigeria

Author(s): C. A. Patrick,C. A. Adetuyi,J. A. Adegboye,A. A. Abiodun-Daniel / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2022

Keywords: discourse; military culture; parade; paralanguage; speech community;

This study examines language use among soldiers in the Odogbo army barracks in Ojoo-Ibadan during training and parade activities. A good number of scholars have investigated language use in the armed forces, and many of them adopted different approaches and arrived at different conclusions. However, there is a paucity of scholarship on the shared knowledge that soldiers deploy in their language during training, parades, and other special activities. The study adopts a qualitative method since the data involved are descriptive. The data used in this study was harvested through participant observations of parade activities by soldiers, as were the audio recordings of army interactions during a parade. Odogbo Army Barracks in Ojoo, Ibadan, was purposefully selected since it was the first barracks in Ibadan and was saddled with the responsibility of coordinating the military activities in southwestern Nigeria. The collected data were analysed from sociolinguistic perspective through identification and interpretation in the military context vis-à-vis the interlocutor. The paper concluded that soldiers’ language in parade involves an authoritative style obeyed by the parade troop as a result of shared knowledge.

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Linguistic performance in typical cognitive aging and dementia

Author(s): Nermina Čordalija,Nejla Kalajdžisalihović / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2022

Keywords: dementia; aging; language comprehension; language production; content words; function words; cognitive reserve; elderspeak;

The paper discusses studies on language in typical cognitive aging and dementia conducted on English language processing. For the most part, the studies on language in aging and dementia presented in the paper have been done with speakers of English. We describe language comprehension and production of two groups— typically aging individuals and individuals with dementia. We provide between- group comparisons with regard to language comprehension and production and point out different levels of impairment affecting comprehension and production. Moreover, taking the findings of the studies into account, which observe language impairments as secondary to motoric, although they may constitute early markers of an undiagnosed condition (Kemper et al. 1995), it is tentatively proposed that content and function words need to be given special attention in analysing language comprehension and language production, respectively. At the same time, cognitive reserve through language learning and in the case of bilingual and multilingual speakers is proposed as a strategy to delay the onset of dementia (De Bot & Maconi, 2005). Finally, we discuss elderspeak and its impact on the quality of life of typically aging individuals and individuals with dementia.

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A Foucauldian Critique of the Dayton Accords: The Iron Cage of Surreality

Author(s): Keith Doubt / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2023

Keywords: The Dayton Accords; War in Bosnia and Herzegovina; Genocide in Srebrenica; Bosniaks; Croats; Serbs; different ethnic groups; constituent peoples;

The manifest function of the Dayton Accords was to stop the sociocidal war in Bosnia-Herzegovina, a war that was killing the country’s society. The war was unconscionable and immoral bringing deaths and horrific consequences to the lives of many and their communities. The genocide in Srebrenica stood as the ignoble pinnacle of this war, but some argue, and this author agrees, genocide was occurring at the very beginning of the war in the pogroms in other areas such as Foča and Prijedor of Bosnia-Herzegovina even though these pogroms are not described as genocide. The Dayton Accords stopped the sociocidal war, and for this reason the Dayton Accords is praised as an important diplomatic achievement in our times. And yet the Dayton Accords has an unfortunate way of splitting and separating citizens.

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Understanding pull factors of drug use among upper basic school students: a pathway for human capital development

Author(s): Muhinat Bolanle Bello / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2022

Keywords: Drug users; basic school; pull factors; development; human capital;

The study investigated the understanding of the pull factors of drug use among upper basic school students: a pathway to human capital development. The study adopted a qualitative form survey design. The population for the study were a public upper basic school in the Junior secondary schools in the Ilorin metropolis. The target population were the upper basic seven, eighth and nine (J.S.S I, II, and III) students that use drugs. A sample size of 9 secondary schools was purposively sampled. Twenty-one basic school students' drug users were sampled through snowballing simple technique. The study applied a qualitative method using an open-ended interview approach developed by the researcher. The thematic data analysis technique was used to analyze the interview data retrieved from the participants. qualitative computer data analysis software (NVIVO 10) was used to analyze the data. Results revealed Alcohol, cigarettes, caffeine, inhalants, methadone, tramadol, codeine, morphine, cannabis or marijuana, opiates, heroin ‘EJA’, JEDI’, and cocaine among others. Parental easy access, peer influence, and experimental curiosity were some of the pull factors, while increased enlightenment, parental role, and limited access to the drug are some of the measures drug users need to quit drugs.

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Effects of manual and computerbased concept mapping innovative strategies on academic performance of pre-service teachers in Kwara state colleges of education

Author(s): Dorcas Sola Daramola,Gabriel Ayodeji Obimiyuwa / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2022

Keywords: anual-Based Concept Mapping; Computer-Based Concept Mapping; Innovative Strategy; Pre-service Teacher; Sustainable Development;

Education is the vital instrument for a nation's efficiency, prosperity, and development to increase its inhabitants' capabilities; hence, the quality of the product and pedagogical competence of the teacher as the specialized agent primarily accountable for the construction of knowledge is highly important. The purpose of this study was to look into the impact of Manual-Based Concept Mapping (MBCM) and Computer-Based Concept Mapping (CBCM) Innovative Strategies on the academic performance of pre-service teachers in Kwara State Colleges of Education. The study used a quasi-experimental pretest-posttest approach. The factorial design of 2 X 2 was used. The research population comprised year one Economics pre-service teachers all from three colleges of education in Kwara State. In the three educational colleges, intact classes were employed. Students in the first two colleges (experimental groups) were educated using manual and computer-based concept mapping innovative methodologies, respectively, while students in the third college (control group) were taught using the traditional approach (lecture method). The three groups were subjected to pre-testing and post-testing. Economics Performance Test (EPT) components from the classes offered were derived from past questions from the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) and utilised for data gathering. To address the research question, data acquired for the study were analysed using mean and standard deviation, while hypotheses were examined using Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) at the 0.05 alpha level. The findings showed a significant effect of Computer-Based Concept Mapping (CBCM) Innovative Strategy on the academic performance of pre-service teachers in Economics at Kwara State Colleges of Education, but no significant effect of the treatments on the academic performance of both male and female pre-service teachers in Economics. There was also no significant interaction effect of Manual-Based Concept Mapping, Computer-Based Concept Mapping innovative methodologies, as well as gender on the academic performance of pre-service teachers in Economics at Kwara State Colleges of Education. Predicated on the study's findings, it was suggested that lecturers at Kwara state colleges of education employ the CBCM innovative teaching methodology for their instruction delivery.

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Child of East and West

Author(s): Vladimir Premec / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2023

Keywords: Spirit of Bosnia; Bosnian Spirituality; Bosnia and Herzegovina; different religions and cultures in one place; Complex history of Bosnia;

I wonder what I think of the phrase “Bosnian Spirit.” I admit that I seldom think of this phrase in itself, but then from another point of view it is even more self-defeating to believe that I will not be able to deal with it in any way, especially not reflectively, in the foreseeable future. Not for two reasons at least. The first is ignorance. I do not know what the concept of spirit is if you add to it the adjective “Bosnian.” The content is thereby enriched but the scope of the meaning of the universal (the scope of the general concept of spirit) is reduced. The second lies in the fact that I do not understand with any certainty this generously formulated phrase (and, I believe, metaphorically rich one) if I approach it using any method accessible to me. How then am I to take it into consideration? Even if I do not know and even if there is nothing to grasp with such a broad term, this does not give me the right, particularly in a logical sense, to deny the reality of that which I do not either directly know or fully comprehend.

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Making sense of an uncoordinated approach to curricular transitions and standardisation between two modern languages departments, a case study

Author(s): Vítor Manuel Oliveira de Passos / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2022

Keywords: Curricular transitions; Tavistock approach; Psychodynamics; Basic-assumption behaviour; Affective containment;

This case study begins by identifying a need for empirical studies in the eld of psychodynamics, namely empirical studies on basic-assumption behaviour in schools. It proceeds to explore the causes behind an uncoordinated approach to curricular transitions and standardisation practices between two modern language departments using a psychodynamic approach. By drawing on data provided by focus groups, evidence is provided for the existence of basic-assumption behaviour, which sti es cooperation and e ective curricular transitions across two divisions. A range of a ective containment strategies are suggested to address the basic-assumption behaviour and change the organisational culture.

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The right to self-determination of peoples through examples of Kosovo and Catalonia: why is the secession of Kosovo acceptable in modern public international law?

Author(s): Mirza Ljubović / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2022

Keywords: modern public international law; self-determination; peoples; remedial secession; human rights;

At a time of progressive development of public international law, the internal self- determination of peoples has no alternative, but external self-determination is justified in a situation where, as a result of oppression, dispossession, and collective discrimination, a certain people have full rights to freely determine its political, social, economic, and cultural setting. In the case of Kosovo, the right to “remedial secession” based on the right to external self-determination has been achieved. According to many legal scholars, the related right is an exception and could be realized outside the colonial context, in limited circumstances that resemble the colonial paradigm. Modern customary public international law provides a legal basis for the introduction of the concept of the right to “remedial secession” and forms an argument that is supported by the “Great Powers” and is consistent with international institutional practice provided that the people’s fundamental human rights are threatened. This article aims to explain through the case of Kosovo that the external form of self-determination, which includes secession, is possible only exceptionally in the case of grave violations of human rights and freedoms, war crimes, repression, and systematic oppression, and that the internal self-determination of the peoples is a more acceptable form of realizing this collective human right, which should be realized through broad constitutional and legal reforms in every multi- ethnic state (a certain degree of autonomy or decentralization).

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The role of religious organisations and networks in the Syrian integration processes in Turkey

Author(s): Mahmut Kaya / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2022

Keywords: International migration; Syrian refugees; integration; religious institutions and religious networks;

This study examines the potential impact of religious organisations and networks on refugee integration processes. It focuses on the experiences of Muslim Syrian refugees in Turkey to address the questions of how pre-war religious networks and institutions evolve during forced migration and what types of functions they carry out in the refugees’ integration in Turkey. The study adopts the integration theory of Alastair Ager and Alison Strang (2008) as an analytical framework. Drawing from ethnographic research -combining in-depth interviews with document analysis-the study proposes three findings. First, Syrian religious communities seek to institutionalise and maintain their networks during their international migration process. Second, religious institutions and networks serve as a sanctuary for refugees. By participating in religious organisations and networks, refugees have accumulated their socio-cultural capital and gained advantages in accessing aid and public services. The feeling of belonging provides them partial psychological comfort and coping opportunity against the trauma of war and migration and a means for attributing meaning to the hardships they experience. Third, while religious education is the primary function of these institutions and networks, they also serve as social bridges and linkage points between the host community and refugees. Finally, the study provides some findings of the limitations of networks, including the risk of emergence of parallel lives, social closure, and marginalisation. The findings contribute to the growing scholarship on refugee integration in the immediate host countries as well as migration and religion nexus.

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I dream, therefore i am an Architect

Author(s): Lamila Simišic Pašić,Meliha Teparić / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2022

Keywords: architecture; exhibition; artificial intelligence; contemporary art; place;

In this review of the exhibition of the student’s research projects in the master’s class Digital Design Studio of Architectural Program within the International University of Sarajevo, mentor and curators Lamila Simisic Pasic and Meliha Teparic are giving an analysis of the settings, aims, and purpose of the show. The exhibition is about an attempt to follow the novelties that the 21st century is bringing into the creation process, such as the involvement of artificial intelligence (AI) within creative fields. Students started with discovering, analyzing, and classifying the results of visual impacts from their travel from home to school. The synthesis came out from a mixture of artificial and real. Then, they merged their physical experiences transformed into visual imagery and digital outputs discovered through the lens of AI into one coherent and intuitive experience. Finally, students used machine learning as a direct collaborator for expanding their imaginations, particularly the diffusion model, which visualizes images out of the text, better known as text-to-image or, its extension, text-to-animation! Using these techniques, students reconstructed their voyages into more visionary landscapes, trying to emphasize, bold, and enlarge dilemmas and concerns of nowadays and refract a multisensory experience to tell the story. The exhibition was held in the Art Gallery of the International University of Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, at the end of 2022.

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Political Reflections on Bosnia and Herzegovina After Dayton

Author(s): Nikola Kovač / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2023

Keywords: Bosnia and Herzegovina; Dayton Peace Agreement; aggressive rhetoric of nationalist leaders; War in Bosnia and Herzegovina; Division of BiH;

Debates held at gatherings to discuss the political situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina all too often involve abstract theoretical reflection, without taking into consideration the reasons the country is stuck in an impasse from which it can neither move ahead nor go back. Real understanding and an objective and informed view of contemporary reality in Bosnia and Herzegovina can be attained only by reference to the facts, which history has marked with its bloody seal. Bosnia and Herzegovina can be discussed only out of the depths of its experience, by sharing the horrors of its tragedy.

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The Hypocrisy of Democracy

Author(s): Svetlana Broz / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2023

Keywords: Bosnia and Herzegovina; The Dayton Accords; the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina; Ethnic groups;

The signing of the Dayton Accords should have provided the majority of the inhabitants of Bosnia and Herzegovina with the hoped-for return of prewar values. The Dayton Accords ended the bloody war in Bosnia and Herzegovina: this was without a doubt its only contribution. But those same people who started the war and conducted it were also the Dayton Accords signatories. When we see today who is fighting to keep every letter of the Dayton Accords in place, it is clear that the Dayton Accords was put together along lines dictated by nationalist leaders whose wartime conquests it confirmed.

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