(Негативне) перспективе учлањења Косова и Метохије у Савет Европе – осврт на српско и међународно искуство

Author(s): Ratomir Milikic / Language(s): Serbian / Issue: 1/2016

From a historical perspective the paper encapsulates the experience of Serbia (the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Serbia and Montenegro) in the process of accession to the Council of Europe (CoE), analyzing the qualifications required for membership of the pan-European organization. A comparative method has been used to explore the experiences and requirements set for Serbia, providing an explanation as to why a possible move by Kosovo and Metohija to join the CoE would be unfeasible. Having listed the points of cooperation between Pristina and Strasbourg, the paper is also offering a breakdown of relevant views on Kosovo and Metohija by the organization. The number of CoE member states that haven’t recognized the self-proclaimed independence of Kosovo and Metohija is not small, which only adds to the complexity of a request for membership, hardly in accord with the consensual decisions the CoE has reached thus far.

A Comparative Analysis of Democratisation Process in Mexico and Poland

Author(s): Zoran Krstic / Language(s): English / Issue: 3/2013

The object analysis of this paper is comparison of democratisation process that occurred in two countries- Mexico and Poland. Beside common political past and authoritarian nature- character of previous regime, those countries are different in almost every aspect: geographical position, history, culture and politics. The aim of this paper it to discover the similarities and differences of democratisation process as well as to find to which degree democratisation is a universal process. During the twenty century many countries with previously nondemocratic regimes transformed itself into democracies. That process simultaneously occurred on distant continents and concerned countries with totally different political and economical regimes. The main reason of studying transition is to uncover the conditions and paths that had led to political democracy. The main purpose of the paper it to analyse and compare democratisation process in Mexico and Poland in the context of wider democratisation theories. The period of reforms between the authoritarian regime and fully democratic state is called in literature democratisation or transformation and should be analysed on two levels. The first one, the institutional, concerns changes in political and economical system. The second one, the societal, relates to modifications inside society, the impact of institutional changes on political culture of both, ruling elite and opposition.

A comparative analysis of the most popular models of local goverment

Author(s): Dragan Bataveljic,Dusan Jerotijevic,Dejan Logarusic / Language(s): English / Issue: 4/2016

The authors point to the fact that the local government in Europe has a long tradition, so that in each of the European countries meet certain specifics regarding the structure, functioning and other characteristics, by which these countries differ from each other. It is quite natural, because such differences are a result of numerous factors that are, more or less, exerted influence on the formation of local self-government (its organization, jurisdiction code, position in society, the relationship between the state and the like). The authors pay special attention and give an analysis of the four major (the best known) model of local self-government - Britain, France, Germany and the United States. England and the United States can be considered the cradle of direct and independent forms of local government, while France was a prime example of the dependent (child) and indirect local government. In modern constitutional systems of much greater application has a two-stage local government, and its chief representative of the Federal Republic of Germany. Finally, there are some systems that do not distinguish between the state and local government, ie. between their bodies, because in such systems the organization of state power is unique and that, from the top all the way to the to the bottom (for example, the former Soviet Union, today’s People’s Republic of China and others).

A Comparative Study of Child Welfare in Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina

Author(s): Ana M. Gavrilovic,Aleksandar L. Jugovic / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2012

The aim of this paper is to analyze, through comparative perspective, current systems of child welfare in transitional societies of the Southeast Europe: Croatia, Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. In this paper we used historical, comparative and statistic method. Socio- political characteristics of these states are: mutual history of child welfare systems, transitional metamorphosis of society and social policy, European perspectives and the need for upgraded child welfare. Gavrilovics point out the common past of child welfare systems of these states. In the main part of this work comparative methods are used to analyze current characteristics of child welfare in Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia- Herzegovina. Family and child support measures are taken into account, with special emphasis on child maintenance, maternity and parental leave and services of specialized children’s institutions. Child welfare is analyzed in the context of transitional changes that the South- east European states are undergoing. Analysis of the three basic forms of financial support of families with children showed that transitional changes substantially reduced the number of children benefiting from child maintenance and even more reduced its amount. Maternity leave is recognized as an important measure in family and population policy in all three states, but there are lack of means, compensation amount is under constant pressure to be lowered.

A Conceptual History of Political Regimes: Democracy, Dictatorship, and Authoritarianism

Author(s): Adam Przeworski / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2017

The labels we attach today to distinguish political regimes have histories. Applying them without understanding these histories is sometimes anachronistic and ethnocentric. I have little new to say about “democracy” and “dictatorship”, so that the discussion of these concepts is just a reminder. “Authoritarianism”, however, is a dubious neologism. I advance two claims: (1) In all regimes the power to command and be obeyed entails some dose of reason-giving, (2) What distinguishes regimes is the form and the extent to which the authority of rulers is monopolised by physical force. I conclude that the concept of “authoritarianism” adds little to the distinction between democracy and dictatorship.

A Quintessential Lesson from European Union Integration to African Union

Author(s): Endris Mekonnen Faris,Hasan Korkut / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2016

The African Union -a multipurpose cooperation platform which most believe inspired by the European Union- came to exist to transform the continents fate into a prosperous one. European Union unprecedentedly becomes the crucial factor to speed up the Europe’s integration. European Union is an economic community and was not meant, first, a political one. Hence European Union can be a quintessential lesson for the African Union if the later understands the formers achievement came because of the exclusive emphasis given to the economic approach. The paper empirically argues that economic integration leads to an outright continental political unity. Accordingly the continent’s integration can only be achieved when economic approach is given prior emphasis. The political approach is a default which by nature follows the achievements gained from economic approach.The African Union -a multipurpose cooperation platform which most believe inspired by the European Union- came to exist to transform the continents fate into a prosperous one. European Union unprecedentedly becomes the crucial factor to speed up the Europe’s integration. European Union is an economic community and was not meant, first, a political one. Hence European Union can be a quintessential lesson for the African Union if the later understands the formers achievement came because of the exclusive emphasis given to the economic approach. The paper empirically argues that economic integration leads to an outright continental political unity. Accordingly the continent’s integration can only be achieved when economic approach is given prior emphasis. The political approach is a default which by nature follows the achievements gained from economic approach.

Alternative predstavničkoj demokratiji: paralelizacija sustavne paradigme skroz heterotopije

Author(s): Cirila Toplak / Language(s): Serbian / Publication Year: 0

Liberal representative democracy is considered the least bad and therefore the only acceptable political system in contemporary global social conditions. However, any discourse that denies alternatives is essentially a conservative discourse, while extraordinary demographic, economic and technological developments of modernity require innovations and progress in the field of political where institutions and systemic solutions of 200 years ago still prevail. As it appears rather obvious that the concepts and practices of representative democracy have been largely hollowed out and compromised in the context of transformed and rapidly transforming social conditions, alternatives to representative democracy also need be considered although this system is a rather recent systemic experiment for the Western Balkan societies. Numerous contemporary representative systems and especially those recently introduced, are actually more or less authoritative oligarchies representing a stage of transition to a „true“ democratic society. On the other hand, consolidated representative democracies also tend to turn into oligarchies, deemed the most suitable political framework to the (global) rule of capital. In other words, some societies have not yet developed a functional representative democratic system and are oligarchies for now, while other societies have gone past the peak of optimal functioning of the representative system and are being perverted into oligarchies according to Michels’s „iron law of oligarchy“. Since the dilemma around more or less or better or worse representative democracy would keep the academic discussion inside narrow ideological confines, and since it appears idealistic to work toward systemic reforms or wait for a (violent) revolution, this paper will seek for a path to a harmonious so ciety of optimal prosperity through analysis of heterotopias or „other (political) spaces“ where, according to Michel Foucault, alternative institutions and social relations are being formed and life is conceived under non-hegemonic conditions.

An audience with … the public, the representative, the sovereign

Author(s): Niccolò Milanese / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2017

The right of audience, in common law, is the right of a lawyer to represent a client in a court. Royalty, the Pope and some Presidents grant audiences. What does the power to grant an audience consist in? And what does it mean to demand an audience (with)? Through a reading of the way in which the vocabulary of theatre, acting and audience is involved in the generation of a theory of state by Hobbes and Rousseau, this paper looks to reopen these questions as a political resource for us to re-imagine and refigure our ways of being together. Through readings of Hobbes and Rousseau, it looks at the ways in which the performance of politics creates the public, the representative and the sovereign and the ways these figures interact. It proposes an alternative role for theatre as places of affective learning and a civic ethics of playfulness, in which the auto-institution of the state as an imagined collectivity is fully assumed.

Analiza mogućnosti transfera politike iz austrijskog u hrvatski sustav razvoja vještina

Author(s): Nikola Bukovic / Language(s): Croatian / Issue: 9/2018

This paper puts forward an analysis of dominant features, differences and potential of policy-transfer from Austrian to Croatian skillformation system. Inquiry is based on the typology developed by Busemeyer and Trampusch following the body of work in developed industrial democracies. These authors distinguish between four types of systems in developed industrial democracies: i) state skill formation; ii) liberal skill formation; iii) segmentalist skill formation; iv) collective skill formation, attributed to Austria. Analytical process is divided in two main segments. Firstly, author examines structure of each skillformation system, placing particular emphasis on secondary vocational schooling, as it represents critical institutional determinant of each system, also examining key recent reforms. Secondly, author analyses similarities and differences between the two systems. Conclusions are also divided in two categories. The first group refers to causes of structural differences between Austria and Croatia. The second group is focused on potential of policy transfer.

Andrea Faggion, Nuria Sánchez Madrid, Alessandro Pinzani (Eds.) Kant and Social Policies, Palgrave Macmillan, London, New York, 2016

Author(s): Igor Cvejic / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2017

Antun Vujić o moći i nemoći socijaldemokracije

Author(s): Tonci Kursar / Language(s): Croatian / Issue: 05-08/2016

Postalo je besmisleno naglašavati da je socijaldemokracija u krizi. Takvo stanje traje od osamdesetih godina i to je njena, kako se kaže, ‘normalnost’. Antun Vujić koji je zaštitni znak hrvatske socijaldemokracije u svojoj publicističkoj knjizi Hrvatska i ljevica kaže: »Prikrivanje ne pomaže. Socijaldemokracija kao politička organizacija je u krizi. Ono što nije u krizi je potreba za socijalnom demokracijom, usporediva i sa samom krizom« (2014: 342). Vujić se u knjizi posvetio rekonstrukciji ‘normalnosti’ koja razara današnju socijaldemokraciju, ali i društveno tkivo Hrvatske. Odbacio je ideološke i policy intervencije Giddensa, Blairea i Schrödera, tj. njihov Third Way, jer je to učenje samo formalno produljilo život socijaldemokraciji do početka globalne krize 2008.

Are hydroelectric power plants really renewable? A comparative study in Turkey, UNFCCC and European law

Author(s): Gonca Yilmaz / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2016

In international environmental literature, hydroelectric power plants (HEPs) are considered as renewable or green energy for a long time. As it can be observed in Turkey, since some countries give “green/renewable energy credits” for HEPs and subsidize them, it will be valuable to evaluate this matter in detail, analyzing legal shortcomings and making proposals to avoid environmental harm caused by HEPs. This paper assesses the misuse of the “green/renewable energy” term for HEPs in Turkey, in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and in some other countries. It proposes that the renewable energy category should be amended and HEPs should not be considered as renewable energy automatically.

Armin von Bogdandy and Pál Sonnevend (eds.): Constitutional Crisis in the European Constitutional Area. Theory, Law and Politics in Hungary and Romania

Author(s): Katarína Šipulová / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2016

Around the Bloc: Little Hope for Swift Release of Czechs Held in Turkey

Author(s): TOL TOL / Language(s): English / Issue: 11/29/2016

Incident underscores complexity of EU-Turkish relations as each side pursues its own interests in the Syrian conflict.

Around the Bloc: No Surprises in Uzbekistan Election

Author(s): TOL TOL / Language(s): English / Issue: 12/06/2016

Acting president will become the real thing after obliterating the competition in a poll that fell short of international standards, observers say.

Around the Bloc: Uzbekistan to Choose New Leader in Milestone Election

Author(s): TOL TOL / Language(s): English / Issue: 11/29/2016

Four candidates are running for president of Uzbekistan in Sunday’s election, although it may be hard for voters to tell them apart.

Association, Property, Territory: What Is at Stake in Immigration?

Author(s): Zoltán Miklósi / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2017

It is often claimed that states have territorial rights, and that these rights include the right to exclude people who seek admission to their territory. In this paper I will examine whether the most defensible account of territorial rights can provide support to the right to exclude. I will discuss three types of theories of territorial rights. The first account links the right of states to exclude to the prior right of individuals to freedom of association, which is said to include the right not to associate and to dissociate. The second is a Lockean theory that grounds the territorial rights of states, and hence their right to exclude, in the prior right of individuals to private property in the land that constitutes the territory of the state. I argue that these accounts have independently implausible implications, regardless of their implications for the immigration debate. The third account is a Kantian theory that bases the territorial jurisdiction of states on individuals’ duty to create, sustain and submit themselves to a shared system of law that is a necessary condition of guaranteeing their rights and of discharging their duties towards one another. I will argue that the Kantian account is superior to its current alternatives. However, I also suggest that it cannot ground a broad right to exclude.

Authoritarian Tendencies in the Polish Political System

Author(s): Jerzy Jaskiernia / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2017

The author analyses some authoritarian tendencies which occur in the Polish political system after 2015 elections since one party (Law and Justice – PiS) has started to control the office of the President and both houses of parliament and has introduced changes in functioning of the Constitutional Tribunal and the judiciary. To some extent PiS represents social attitudes typical for the socialist (social-democratic) parties, with some populist message, but with the combination of a conservative approach to several issues and a nationalistic stand on perception of patriotic mood. To respond to the widely felt hardships and anxieties, PiS ran a campaign that called for vastly expanded public spending. It promised to increase the minimum wage and the personal income tax exemption; to offer a new child support payments (program Family 500+), housing subsidies (program Housing+), and free prescription drugs for seniors; and to lower the retirement age from the current 67 to 65 for men and 65 to 60 for women. PiS also exploited the European migrant crisis. It is too early to claim that the authoritarian tendencies, observed after 2015 elections, have dominated the Polish political system for a longer time. Still an important counterbalance offer the political opposition and mechanisms of the civil society. The Polish fundamental law still brings about the criteria to analyze a political practice and instruments to protect to some extent the balance of power and pluralistic values. The open question is what tendency would bring about the constitutional referendum proposed by President Andrzej Duda for 11 November 2018, on the 100th anniversary of independence of Poland. It might answer the question whether some autocratic tendencies would create the mood to change the constitution in that direction.

Az Angol–Orosz Bizottság megalakulása, 1924 – 1925

Author(s): Róbert Surányi / Language(s): Hungarian / Publication Year: 0