Negativna sloboda i odsustvo dominacije

Author(s): Ivan Mladenović / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 14/2015

In this paper we will examine the difference between liberal and republican concepts of freedom. The proponents of republican view think that the third concept of freedom should be introduced in addition to negative and positive concepts of freedom. This third concept implies freedom as nondomination. Just as the liberal theorists think that there is a priority of negative over positive freedom, the republican theorists argue that there is a priority of nondomination over negative freedom. Since, the republican theorists defend the introduction of freedom as nondomination not only on normative, but also on conceptual grounds, our primary aim in this paper will be to investigate whether this notion has some analytical advantages over the concept of negative freedom.

Der Beitrag politischen Handelns zur Verwirklichung von Gerechtigkeit

Author(s): Ernst-Wolfgang Böckenförde / Language(s): German Issue: 04/1992

Die deutsch-deutsche Vereinigung stellt die Politik, stellt politisches Handeln vor herausfordernde Aufgaben. Entsprechendes gilt in den von kommunistischer Herrschaft freigewordenen Staaten Ostmitteleuropas. Geht es dabei nur um Politik als Zweckhandeln im Blick auf Machtgewinnung und Machterhalt, oder geht es auch und gerade um die Herstellung und Verwirklichung von Gerechtigkeit?

Komparativna analiza utjecaja medijskih posredovanih političkih kampanja na birače

Author(s): Đorđe Obradović / Language(s): Croatian Issue: 3/2014

Media represents a necessary communication channel in political communication. Although more efficient, direct communication is not possible with all the target publics because of lack of time and often the lack of funds needed for direct communication. But, direct communication is not utilized only to communicate with the gathered crowd, but also represents an event or pseudo-event which will be transferred to broader target groups through media. Strategies, tactics and techniques of political campaign management through the media as communication channels are planned in detail, like the methods of research which should deliver precise predictions of election results, being the final goal of the campaign execution. While in developed countries polls are mostly precise and the results are placed around the minimal statistical error, the situation in countries in transition is opposite and pre-election and exit polls often do not correspond to the actual election results. Research conducted on the sample of 500 people in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina shown that most of the voters are led by cheering mentality so they vote for the party they prefer, regardless of the offered program and the quality of political campaign, while many voters admits that they refuse to take part in polls or, that when they accept to participate in polls do not say the truth.

Opadanje političke participacije – kritični građani ili nova pokornost?

Author(s): Vanja Savić / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 12/2015

The decline of conventional political participation in advanced modern societies, an undisputed tendency in the past several decades, has been accompanied by the rise of unconventional democratic participation including protest politics (‘demonstration democracy’; ‘social movement society’), check-book activism, political consumerism etc. Although the signifi cance of altered patterns of democratic participation has been widely recognized, interpretations widely diverge. While some perceive them as a sign of postmaterial values of „critical citizens“ with higher expectations of democracy, others warn that new participatory forms might not be as eff ective as the old ones in bringing about political change. Still others, including the present author, fear that the decline of conventional political participation might actually signal „a new deference.“

DETERMINANTS OF POLITICAL DECISIONS IN THE POLISH POLITICAL SYSTEM

Author(s): Marek Górka / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2013

The changes in political life in Poland in the period 2005–2011, which restructured the existing balance of power (dominance of post-Solidarity parties at the expense of the post-communist party) force us to consider whether the party system evolution involves changes in the sphere of ideological divisions. But there also arises another question about the crisis of the left, which could mean the end of the previous model, intergroup rivalry. But there is no doubt that it occurred after 2005 events. Initiated processes took a completely different direction than those in the 90s. The purpose of the article is to explain the ongoing political disputes, and also attempt to answer the question: what factors shape the profile of program-ideological political formations in Poland.

Scots: A Poor Variation of English or a Language in its Own Right? Perceptions in Scotland Prior to the Referendum on Independence

Author(s): Kirsten Lawson / Language(s): English Issue: 08/2014

Paper addresses the twofold question of whether locals perceive a connection between Scots and their Scottish Identity, and whether they consider Scots an additional identifying factor, or an issue of greater importance. Results of a survey conducted in Edinburgh are presented. Interviewees were also asked whether the forthcoming independence referendum influenced their view regarding the status of Scots. Results indicate that for some, Scots is but a substandard variation of English, which is indicative of belonging to lower social classes (McClure 1988; Menzies 1991). Instead, others perceived Scots as a language in its own right, sharing the same origins as modern English, but rich in literary tradition. Overall, the study emphasizes how major efforts are essential to encourage and sustain Scots as “[…] a mirror of Scotland‟s soul” (Kay 1993: 189) and as a community language in order to support and create conditions for Scots-speakers to value their identity, use their language, and strengthen the position of Scots within existing language communities. It also highlights how policies are encouraging or discouraging different perceptions of language identity and language attitudes in the case of Scots.

BARACK OBAMA – THE NEW CHARISMATIC POLITICAL ACTOR - A DISCOURSE ANALYSIS

Author(s): Ada-Maria Ţîrlea / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2016

The American president, Barack Obama, is considered to be one of the most charismatic figures of the 21st century. His speeches are the best asset through which he emphasizes this quality. Although, he hasn’t always been considered to be a successful politician, he made his entrance on the political arena in 2004, when he delivered one of his best speeches. The aim of this paper is to reveal the most important elements of a political discourse that can contribute to creating a good image of a political actor. Using the critical discourse analysis method, we are trying to see if there is a connection between a good, coherent discourse strategy and the charisma of the American leader. The sample will include his 2004 speech, delivered at the Democrats’ Convention, the speech that put him in the eyes of the media as a future American leader.

O znakach postkomunizmu w postawach lokalnych aktorów politycznych w Chojnicach

Author(s): Marcin Wałdoch / Language(s): Polish Issue: 43/2016

This study discusses the signs of post-communism in the behaviour of local political actors. Twenty-five years after the fall of the Iron Curtain in Poland, there are still many indicators showing analogies between today’s socio-political scene and the previous communist rule. The author claims that post-communism is still present in local communities in Poland, and it may be a barrier to the consolidation of local democracy.

Актуальность прошлого: Монолог Фихте о достоинстве человека и ученого в контексте современной эпохи

Author(s): Natalia Brosova / Language(s): Russian Issue: 16/2016

In the last decade of the 18th century, in the era of European radical change, Fichte again raised the question of the essence of man. He linked this issue with the development of culture, and approved its key importance for philosophy, science, national development. Following kant, Fichte speaks of human dignity, which is the ability to “use one’s own mind”. But, unlike kant, he emphasizes the role of freedom as a necessary condition for intellectual independence, humanitarian knowledge as a true form of its expression, and the value of activity as the true goal of a reasonable human being. Hence the important perfectionist thesis of Fichte: the ultimate destiny of man – to be a scientist, the ultimate purpose of the scientist – to know the man in his free activities. Modern discussion on freedom, relations of political-legal and moral norms, demonstrates the relevance of Fichte’s ideas.

Prospects of Pluralist democracy in an age of economic Globalization and World-Wide Migration

Author(s): Rainer Eisfeld / Language(s): English Issue: 15/2015

the author inquires how are societies to cope with economic globalization, migration and ethnic and religious diversity without sacrificing electoral responsiveness and governmental accountability. His also asks how to deal with grossly unequal distribution of political resources, skewed power structures, structurally embedded participatory barriers that resurface in a more dangerous forms in the new context. For answers he turns to a classic of democratic theory robert dahl and his ideas that are in sharp contrast to the present trend of introducing corporate management as a best way to run political affairs. dahl, instead, proposes introducing democracy into the economic sphere and especially in large corporations. For the growing diversity of present societies, the author only partly advocates for the consociational recipes of Lijphart and the multiculturalism of Kymlicka pointing out that without resourceful political individuals and their political participation pluralist democracy cannot flourish. the author concludes that political science should again develop visions about how a “good society” might be designed – and how it might be politically brought even remotely closer to being attained. Such a discipline might then work as a science of democracy.

Altruismus a egoismus jako společensko-politické hodnoty na přelomu 2. a 3: tisíciletí

Author(s): Jaroslav Vencálek / Language(s): Czech Issue: 1/2015

Searching for the solutions of societal crisis at the beginning of the 3rd millennium has been increasingly associated with the new paradigmatic perception of the reality of the world. This is closely related with an emphasis on the study of contextual relationships that would enable preservation of the integrity of the human community. One of the priorities of this process is the need for societal transformation of the perception of the relationship between egoism and altruism.

Lobiranje i/ili korupcija

Author(s): Dejan R. Dašić,Milijanka Ratković / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 8/2016

In this paper, we examine the meaning of the term lobbying in today's business and social environment. Relaying on Public choice theory and using the examples of different domestic and global interest groups engagement, where lobbying is presented as corruption, we are proving the basic assumption that lobbying is now equated with corruption. Likewise, we demonstrate the basic assumption that the process of lobbying usually boils down to corruption and its activities. A large number of cases, some of which are mentioned in the paper, show that lobbying is identical to corruption. In this regard, it is not surprising that many authors believe that these two processes are carried out interchangeably with the same goal. Therefore, we can use these terms as synonyms. There is a large number of examples in the field of international relations, especially on the world’s political scene indicating their equality. There are many examples on the American political scene and its international relations that lobbying is on the verge of being interpreted as corruption. When it comes to Serbia, lobbying has been recently established as practice, both in the positive as well as negative connotation, called corruption. Unfortunately, cases reffered to the recent past, filled with many wars, have shown that some interest groups for achieving their objectives have often used Serbia. Serbia did not have enough knowledge in the area of lobbying. That is why the country has suffered great economic and political damage in the last twoand- a- half decades. The modern mass media plays a large role in this process Along with the public relation experts, it can imperceptible create whichever reality they want, which represents the fact that French postmodernist Jean Baudrillard indicated to long time ago.

Glosa do wyroku SA w Warszawie z 20 maja 2013 r. (II AKa 129/13)*

Author(s): Marek Kulik / Language(s): Polish Issue: 3/2014

Finalitée evropskih integracija posle bregzita

Author(s): Vanja Savić / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 13/2017

Theories of Europen integration provide a guidance in thinking about the direction in which the EU will develop after Brexit. In the dynamics of European integration between further “widening” vs “deepening,” Britain has always been viewed as a proponent of further widening of the common market, while the countries of the so-called “European core” have been viewed as proponents of further deepening of integration among existing member states. Paradoxically, Britain’s exit from the EU thus removes the obstacles for further (including political) integration and leads to semi-official acceptance of previously controversial idea about “the multi-speed Europe”. Such outcome of the dynamics of European integration between widening and deepening suggests some conclusions for another debate, the one between neofunctionalist and intergovernmentalist theories of European integration. Functional spillover theory insists that integration goes deeper than governments intend, while intergovernmentalism insists that national governments are ultimately in charge of the process, tailoring it to their needs. If Europe goes towards deeper integration among countries that share the same fundamental vaues, it bolsters the neofunctionalist argument. It is at the same time the most desirable political destiny for the united continent and the only one that can inspire true changes in aspiring candidate countries.

Homo fanaticus као модел савременог човека

Author(s): Aleksandar Stevanović / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 2/2017

In this paper, the problem of fanaticism as a social phenomenon has been analyzed and criticized from a standpoint of a moral, considered as a natural human predisposition. Making the substantial difference between moral and fanaticism as anti-moral position, based on the foundation on inner or outer aim as final purpose of a person, the author, relying on Kant`s philosophy, recognizes contemporary societies as highly fanatical. Using five elements (ethical superiority, exclusivity, efficiency, enthusiasm and emotive block) he defines Model 5E. As a consequence of Model 5E, the author in the Second Part explains Euthanasia of the Human consciousness as relevant for understanding a position of a fanatic, and after that, he introduces notions of Supreme Authority and Field of total Trust and explains subjective and objective conditions of fanaticism. In the main part, he explains the impact that fanatics have on the natural human morality, with emphasis on difference of influence between Monolithic in “totalitarian”, and Diffuse Supreme Authority in “open” societies, equaling moral degradation of a natural Human moral position in both of them. As a basic problem of a fanatic standpoint the author sees the inability of moral selfimprovement. Positioning the Highest Good in the field of outer aims, he loses the possibility to value a moral perfection of a person as an aim itself. The author concludes that contemporary “open” societies, based on Protestant values, are the main source of present fanaticism. The author asserts connection between different models of fanaticism, trying to explain similarity of attitudes in them and their mutual interdependence. Using Kant`s terms the author tries to reestablish natural moral position as valid toward fanaticism, using them in an attempt to show connections between Religion seen as a moral need, and position of self-devotion in establishing fanatic scale of values. At the end, the author asserts the possibility of criticizing fanaticism using the tools of Kantian philosophy and Orthodox Christian morality.

Teorie míru protiváhou vědy o válce

Author(s): Felix Černoch / Language(s): Czech Issue: 4/2014

The peace is a state of affairs among states, nations and mankind, characterized by a friendly coexistence, solving matters in dispute by means of negotiations and accords, without use of armed and physical forces or psychological coercion. For preserving peace it is important to respect state sovereignty, independence, the right of nations to define their own courses. The theory of peace, dealing with those items, being introduced by the following article, is called paxology.

A stratégiai szavazás arcai

Author(s): Ádám Máté Harkányi / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 1/2018

Strategic voting is one of the concepts of political science which is widely used by the media, and has changed significantly over the past two decades. Research into strategic voting – with the increase in the number of proportional and mixed electoral systems through democratization processes and numerous electoral reforms – is less and less focused on the plurality-majority systems. Of course, growing researcher interest was associated with expanding the concept and exploring the wider range of institutional incentives and voter motivations behind it. We have come to know many new faces of strategic voting. The aim of this study is to present the conceptual changes, the relevance of some of the features of the electoral systems, and the various possible motives for strategic voting, in other words, the different faces of strategic voting. Due to the growing domestic interest in this topic, it is important to review the context of ticket splitting and strategic voting, as well as to present some of the most important findings of previous research.

Learning from the Obama Campaign: reply to W. Frederick Zimmerman (A historical and political lesson plan)

Author(s): Anca Parmena Olimid / Language(s): English Issue: 21+22/2009

The present article discusses the context of the presidential campaign in the United States in 2008. in particular, the analysis examines the implications of the campaign of candidate of the Democratic Party, Barack Obama, starting from the experiment of W. Frederick Zimmerman in his paper “Should Barack Obama Be President?”. The author’s analysis looks at three essential aspects: the identity of the future president; the particular aspects of his speech on the occasion of the Democratic Convention of 2004 and the organization of the campaign.

Bennünk élő politika. A politikai hatékonyságérzetre ható tényezők vizsgálata nemzetközi összehasonlításban

Author(s): Márton Bene / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 3/2018

This study is designed to uncover the individual- and context-level factors that shape the level of both external and internal political efficacy using the database of the seventh round of European social survey (Ess). The general research question is what role context-level factors play compared to the individual-level predictors at the level of political efficacy. Also, the study tests several literature-based and newly-formed hypotheses on a representative sample of 19 countries including more than 22 thousand respondents. regarding individual-level explanations, a novelty of the study that it examines the effects of non-political life quality variables besides the widely studied socio-economic- and political behaviour variables. Thus far, context-level explanations have received less attention in the political efficacy-literature. To bridge this gap, this study examines the effects of certain characteristics, namely the extension and the performance of the political system and – as a novelty –some features of the media system. The results suggest that political efficacy is primarily shaped by individual-level factors, but the disproportionality of the electoral system, the extension of the political system, the level of corruption and the political significance of the media system are significantly associated with the level of external political efficacy, while the level of GdP is related to internal political efficacy.

Финансирање председничке кампање 2017: једанаест кандидата и само једна кампања

Author(s): Bojan Klačar / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 4/2018

208 The subject of this paper is an analysis of the financing of the 2017 presidential campaign in Serbia. The aim of the paper is to ex amine the effects of public funding introduced in 2011, which led to a great dependence of political subjects on public sources and a great misbalance in the financial capacities between the ruling party (or par ties) and opposition. The paper put an accent on a particular form of deviation that characterizes Serbia after 2011: the financial supremacy of the ruling party and the complete dependence of political subjects on public funding. We used theoretical framework of cartel parties devel oped by Katz and Mair but we applied this approach bearing in mind local circumstances. These approaches indicate that one of the impor tant consequences of public funding is the emergence of the status quo in which the largest subjects work together and use public resources to ensure their own collective survival. Cartelisation of the party system can lead to the growth of populist and antisystem parties, which di rectly communicate with citizens, correcting in that matter mistakes of mainstream parties. We put particular focus on the influence of public funding on the disappearance of political subjects and the possibility of creating new ones. Analysis of the last four electoral cycles in Serbia shows that political subjects reported from 40% to 50% of revenues from public funding. Loans consist about a quarter of revenue on average, while their own funds (funds from regular work of political subjects) are on the rise after the law changes in 2014. In fact, revenues from public sources are more than we noted above because all approved loans in Serbian campaigns came from banks with local ownership. In addition, conditions for approved loans were significantly better than other com mercial loans (for other companies or private persons). As a rule, ruling parties in average spend the most in Serbian campaigns and we are talk ing about significant funds for local circumstances – more than three millions of euros per subject. In 2012, there was a balance in a certain way between ruling subjects and opposition in spite of the fact that ruling subjects spent more funds. After 2014 parliamentary elections, “progressives” as a ruling party became an absolute leader in financial capacities. This period is overlapped with their history electoral results. In 2016 and 2017, they spent much more money than other subjects or candidates together. The best example is 2017 presidential campaign when Aleksandar Vucic spent more than six million euros and in ad dition he spent for political advertising slightly more than other candi dates for all activities during the campaign. The most important results we obtained in paper are: 1) the existence of great dependence of polit ical subjects on public funding in election campaigns, 2) deepening the gap between the financial capacities of the ruling subjects in relation to the opposition, 3) the survival of the largest number of political sub jects despite small financial resources and 4) the proliferation of “soft“ organisations, such as political movements based on online campaigns. We concluded that there was no political pluralism in last three elector al cycles as a consequence of significant financial disparities between ruling subjects and opposition. Political subjects have survived that period but in the real sense they have no capacities for serious political competition and presentation of their policies. Due to small capacities of opposition for management of election campaigns, citizens do not have an opportunity to see both sides. Party life in 2017 is significant ly worse than five years ago when the new financial framework was adopted. One of the recommendations is to continue the monitoring of these trends and modification in legal framework if such negative trends continue.