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One always searches for some symbolic point from which one can claim that something ended and something else began, even though there are no beginnings and no endings.
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This book offers an analysis of transitional justice - retribution and reparation after a change of political regime - from Athens in the fifth century BC to the present
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The Gulag Survivor – Beyond the Soviet System is the first book published in Ex-Yugoslavia to examine at length and in-depth the post-camp experience of Stalins victims and their fate in post-Soviet Russia. Based on extensive interviews, memoirs, official records, The Gulag Survivor describes what survivors experienced when they returned to society, how officials helped or hindered them, and how issues surrounding their existence evolved from the 1950s to the present.
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Articles collected in this volume, written mostly in the past five years, attempt to develop themes already articulated in the Les Frontières de la démocratie. The book deals with historical and political borders, as places where citoyenneté and la civilité are being challenged, as loose or firm battle lines where democracy could be tamed or gain new inspiration. It deals with ambiguity of the term »community«, as community of peoples, community of citizens, national community striving to become trans-national on various levels where it is being constructed and sometimes de-constructed. (From Preface)
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The first part of this book gives an account of institutional and substantial changes in Europe, its new wars and new challenges, while the second part focuses on a comparative analysis of different transitions. The third part is dedicated to changes in the Croatian society and the transformation the state is going to. Finally, a synthesis of globalization processes is given, as well as projections of futures scenarios for development of transition and globalization processes.
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This book delivers a thorough analysis of multiple aspects of NATO involvment in South Eastern Europe and implications for Croatia. It also contains an overview of all positive and negative arguments for Croatia's membership in the NATO
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This book is a collection of papers written and presented at the Panel Discussion on Globalization and Neo-liberalism, held on April 19th 2006 in Zagreb. This Panel Discussion was organized by the Political Science Research Centre Forum. It gathered eminent Croatian scientists from different scientific fields of research (sociology, political sciences, economics, history, law, philosophy and others). Multidisciplinary approach ensured a fruitful discussion resulting with this book which aims to enlighten many globalization issues from different aspects and points of view. Understanding the changes in contemporary society connected with processes of globalization and the neo-liberal doctrine and the ways in which they reflect on Croatian society and state requires systematic and multidisciplinary scientific rethinking. In the scope of this comprehension the book intends to provide at least an overview of possible responses to the challenges of the world we live in. Although primarily based on scientific and theoretical ground, papers presented in this book also aim to offer some pragmatic ideas and solutions, which is particulary important for the positioning of Croatian society in the context of transition, European integration and adaptation to global processes. Following the given framework of globalization and neo-liberalism, papers presented in this book examine and question different issues starting with the definition of globalization, neo-liberal globalization and globalism in terms of concepts and contents. Also, putting these phenomena in a historical context offers a basis for understanding of contemporary transformation of society and social structures. Various aspects of global relations have been discussed: the role of major and powerful states, the role of international organizations and transnational corporations, changes in labor conditions, position of small countries, transformation of the welfare state and emersion of new forms of social solidarity, security on global and local level, global environment destruction, antiglobalization responses and others. From different points of view the papers in this book examine almost all important specific implications of the influence globalization and neo-liberalism have on economies, politics, welfare state, regulation, security, environment and social issues, aiming especially at pointing out positive and negative consequences for Croatian society.
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Macedonia features in many discussions as a country with high hidden economy. The European Commission has repeatedly voiced its concerns in its regular country reports about the size and proliferation of hidden economy practices. Hidden employment or undeclared work in Macedonia is of particular concern to the authorities, provided the very high and stubborn levels of official unemployment and low employment levels. However, most studies and research on the matter involve a high level of ambiguity, as they refer to specific narrow outcomes of the hidden economy, usually towards a specific point in time, with dynamics being difficult to trace. The current report, prepared jointly by the Center for the Study of Democracy (CSD) and the Center for Research and Policy Making (CRPM), Macedonia proposes a methodology that would allow the tracing of the dynamics of the hidden economy and its components (e.g. hidden turnover, hidden employment, etc.) over time. This would make possible for the Macedonian government and its European partners to follow the impact and assess the effectiveness of their policies for tackling the hidden economy. Estimates suggest that the hidden economy size in Macedonia ranges from 24% to 47% of its GDP according to different measurement methods. The current report indicates that the percentage of hidden salaries remains the most acute concern, with the employment income of some 40% of Macedonian employees being at least partially undeclared. Moreover, 7% of all Macedonian employees work without a contract, and are not being paid any social security contributions whatsoever. The interviewed business representatives confirmed wide scale violations of the Labour Code. Over half of those respondents claimed that signing contracts with ‘hidden clauses’ (not accounting for the full remuneration paid out) were commonplace in their sector. Moreover, large-scale tax evasion seems to continue to pose a serious problem for the Macedonian economy and social system as the government tries to adjust them in order to be compatible with the principles of the market economy without imposing too extensive erosion of the social fabric and the existing social benefits. Tax avoidance is especially widespread among the poorest members of the society, which makes the underprivileged especially vulnerable as they may find themselves being criminally prosecuted for unpaid taxes or charged with paying large penalties. VAT returns are provided back to companies with significant time lags and represent additional burden for companies which are part of the formal economy. The issuance of cash register receipts also remains an issue, as only less than a half of the respondents claimed that they always received receipts when buying groceries. The situation is similar with the purchase of services.
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Bulgaria is among those half of EU-member states where statistical information about victim-offender relationship is not gathered, hereby making impossible the assessment of the share of domestic violence among crimes against the person. Domestic violence is not qualified as a criminal offence and is still not included in the Criminal Code – and respectively, in statistical data provided by the Police and by the National Statistical Institute. Information about numbers of complaints for domestic violence registered in the police and numbers of cases of domestic violence submitted to the courts are not present in the publicly available statistics either. The current report is part of the National Study on Domestic and Gender Based Violence (DGBV) and Elaboration of Victims Support Model (VSM), developed under Programme Area 29, BG12: Domestic and Gender Based Violence, Measure 3: Research and data collection of the Norwegian Financial Mechanism, in response to their aims: research and collection of data regarding the prevalence and measures to prevent and combat DGBV. The general objective of the study is to contribute to the prevention of DGBV and to improve the situation of DGBV victims in Bulgaria, with specific focus on Roma women and girls. The specific objective is to develop knowledge and expertise regarding the situation of domestic and gender-based violence to ensure that all stakeholders including the Bulgarian government can access strong independent analysis in order to facilitate better informed and evidence-based policy decisions. This objective is achieved by conducting quantitative and qualitative study in Bulgaria which provides data regarding the prevalence and measures to prevent and combat DGBV among the general and Roma population. Additional objective is to develop and pilot a Victims Support Model (VSM), which aimed to involve local community in the assistance and protection of DGBV victims and engage the key local stakeholders (police departments, service providers, local authorities, Roma organizations).
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Improvement of registration of non-profit organisations (NPOs) is a necessary precondition for strengthening the civil society and increasing its transparency and accountability. An easy and simple registration procedure, with no duplication of information and functioning automatic exchange of data, would allow the civic sector to concentrate on its substantive priorities. The registration of NPOs and its subsequent maintenance determines to a large extent the relations between those organisations and the state authorities and is an indicator of the will of decision makers to lighten excessive administrative burden and thus facilitate the civil sector's development. The concept offered and the recommendations for legislative changes provide support to institutions in achieving that aim.
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In prison, certain groups of inmates are subject to disadvantages due to specifics of their origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, etc. These groups usually need special treatment, which is not always provided, which leads to unequal treatment and violation of their rights. This handbook examines the situation of such vulnerable groups within the prison systems of Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, Lithuania and Spain. Starting from the classification of the UN Handbook on Prisoners with special needs and looking at the different national contexts, the authors identify different groups as vulnerable in different countries. In order to encompass as many groups as possible, their list was extended to include some particularly marginalised groups, such as sex offenders, prisoners with disabilities, etc. Each group is viewed in context, explaining the situations of vulnerability both generally and in the selected countries. From one side, the handbook presents the efforts for compensation of vulnerabilities in every country available in the legislation or provided by prison authorities or other actors. From the other side, it identifies the gaps in the measures and practices, which vary both from country to country and from group to group.
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International organisations, national governments and human rights NGOs exercise various types of monitoring of the penitentiary systems. In order to quantify their results, there are some generally accepted indicators (such as the number of inmates per 100.000 citizens), but in many specific areas like healthcare, employment, security and safety, such indicators have never been applied. Therefore, those monitoring efforts will substantially benefit from an instrument capable of supplying comparable and easy-to-use data on the situation in prisons. To address this need, the Center for the Study of Democracy, in cooperation with the Dortmund University of Applied Sciences and Arts, the Observatory on the Penal System and Human Rights with the University of Barcelona, the Law Institute of Lithuania and Association Droit au Droit, developed a Prison Conditions Monitoring Index (PCMI) – a system of indicators translating into comparable figures the situation in different prisons. In the end of 2014, the PCMI was piloted in several prisons in Bulgaria, Germany and Lithuania to test its operability and analyse the potential use of the results it generates. The present report elaborates on the methodology underlying the PCMI and offers a summary of the results of its pilot implementation. It is intended for a broad audience of readers including policy makers, prison staff, lawyers, social workers, academics and NGOs interested in the topic of prison monitoring.
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The issue of imprisonment vs. alternative penalties has been debated in various European countries during the last decades, and ambulant sanctions have been heavily on the rise. Community sentences and other alternatives to imprisonment are regarded as modern instruments for the rehabilitation of offenders. The objective of the present study is to examine the scope of application of penalties without deprivation of liberty as compared to imprisonment as well as to identify promising practices of alternative criminal sanctioning in Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, Spain and Lithuania. As this study covers several European countries, the comparative perspective suggests itself nearly as a matter of course. In this connection, it seems reasonable to describe the existing ambulant sanctions of the different member states involved, taking into account their legal arrangement and their relation within the system of penal sanctions including their relation to the deprivation of liberty. It in addition appears sensible to describe and compare these ambulant sanctions with reference to their contribution to the re-socialisation or rehabilitation of those subjected to them as well as with special attention to the involvement of civil society in their execution. In a further step, promising practices in connection with ambulant sanctions could be highlighted which may be recommended for imitation by other member states. Such an approach proves to be impossible for multiple reasons, though, and it would be inadequate just to make such an attempt. There are exemplary references to ambulant sanctions in Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, Lithuania and Spain. This is due to the fact that scientists from these countries have taken part in the realisation of this project but not necessarily because of specific outstanding features of their sanction systems in comparison with other member states.
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The study Examining the links between organised crime and corruption was commissioned by the European Commission (DG JLS). This is the first study that examines systematically across all 27 EU Member States how organised crime uses corruption as a tool. The study is based on more than 150 interviews with corruption specialists (police, prosecutors, criminologists, and fraud specialists). More than 120 statistical and survey indicators on corruption and organised crime were analysed to examine the trends and patterns in organised crime’s use of corruption. The study focuses on how organised and white collar criminals use corruption to target public institutions (politicians, police, judiciary, and customs), as well as how it is used for the operation of key criminal markets (cigarettes, drugs, prostitution, car-theft, and extortion-racketeering). The study also examines how private sector company employees are corrupted by organised criminals. Although the study does not map the specifics of how corruption is used in each EU Member State, six in-depth studies (on Bulgaria, France, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, and Spain) provide a more in-depth look in the situation in these countries. The study was presented in April 2010 at a meeting organised by the EC to representatives of ministries of interior of all 27 EU Member States. In July 2010, the study was presented at a hearing of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) of the European Parliament.
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The report Organized Crime in Bulgaria: Markets and Trends summarizes the analyses carried out by the Center for the Study of Democracy throughout the last decade which have focused on specific aspects of organized crime in Bulgaria (contraband, the drug market, tax fraud, human trafficking, arms proliferation, etc.), the systemic spread of corruption, and the linkages between the two. The report presents the latest trends and manifestations (or market niches) of syndicate crime and its particularly damaging effects. It goes further to offer a historical review of the facts and available expertise in the area, and to draw conclusions about the origin, characteristics and developmental features of organized criminality in Bulgaria in the context of the transition to democracy.
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The report uses a crime victimization survey as an alternative analytical tool to make an independent assessment of the crime situation in Bulgaria for the period 2001–2004. The crime victimization survey polls people’s experiences with crime. Unlike official government crime statistics, the regular crime victimization surveys help the police and government authorities, as well as the public to understand: • whether the official police crime data reflect the real crime rate and crime trends; • the volume of the unreported crime; • the reasons victims do not report crimes to the police; • whether the police avoids registering reported crimes; • the profile of the social groups that are most at risk of falling victims to crime.
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The principles of the good corporate governance are not well-known in Bulgaria, probably because of the novelty of the topic, the specific characteristics of the Bulgarian shareholders and the companies, which became public in an administrative way through the mass privatization, as well as the underdevelopment of the capital market and the insignificant stock market participation of the public companies. However, the authors of the publication consider it would be wrong for the problems of corporate governance to be ignored because of the facts mentioned above. Without sound corporate governance the capital market will languish, the growth of new firms will remain difficult and many investment projects will not find financing. The publication “Corporate Governance in Development” reviews most of the latest major events, practices and problems, related to corporate control in Bulgaria during the period 2002 - 2004. The authors pinpoint the achievements and omissions in the legislative framework, the characteristics of the Bulgarian shareholders and corporate organization, as well as the relations between the members of the board of a company and the company itself, in order to show the necessity of social and responsible corporate governance.
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Such is the importance of the Cyprus conflict that a settlement or strategic agreement has the potential to unlock sensitive regional issues and transform the Eastern Mediterranean into a region of cooperation and stability. Moreover, given the current international challenges ranging from the shifting international power balance, and the climate and energy crises to the mass refugee flows that cannot be tackled without cooperation, settlement of the Cyprus problem now more pressing than ever.
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The COVID-19 pandemic reveals the role played by the doctors at all levels of health care system and the necessity to have a coherent public strategy to address the prevention, screening and preventive intervention, diagnosis, and intervention to fight against the disease. The role of family physicians increases in these pandemic times, they are becoming the interface between patients and health system.Using the literature approach, analysing the governmental rules established for fighting against SAR-CoV-2 disease, our investigation proposes to examine the strategic role played by the family physicians, also to underline the most appropriate practices that increase the quality of the medical act.
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