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The article is an advancement of a preceding text which analyzed particular substantive theories of military coup in mainstream Anglo-Saxon political science literature. It provides a synthesis analysis of the previously analyzed literature specialized in military coup research, and because each substantive theory provides explanations of the occurrence of military coups through different independent variables, these factors are categorized for research purposes. Working with the definition of a military coup, the article’s goal is to set ten separate theories together into a formal concept of the military coup and express it by means of a synthesized causal model. This model contains individual premises of existing research and constitutes a conceptual framework for the formulation of “the hammer and anvil theory” of military coup. The “hammer” signifies the capacity and commitment of the army to effect a change of government by the use of force or under the threat of it. The “anvil” represents factors which delegitimize a government and de facto hamper its ability to escape the “hammer” blow.
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The article deals with the topic of electoral design, reforms, and engineering in the post-Yugoslav state entities between 1990 and 2015. First, it briefly conceptualizes a theoretical framework, drawing on the work by Katz, Shugart and Renwick. Second, it describes the evolution of electoral design and reforms to the main chambers in particular systems in detail. Third, it analyses and compares common trends in electoral reforms and design. Proportional representation (PR) list systems have been used for almost 90 % of all 60 elections (a PR list had been adopted by the fourth elections in all the systems). There have been 29 reforms in total (avg. 3.6 per entity), 1/5 of them major and 4/5 minor. Major reforms took place in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and in Serbia (one each) and in Croatia and Macedonia (two each). There have, however, been no major electoral reforms in Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, or Kosovo. Minor reforms have been present in all entities (the most in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro, the least in Kosovo and Slovenia). While major reforms were primarily used to correct parts of political systems perceived as dysfunctional, one third of minor reforms were used for intentional electoral engineering. Generally, post-Yugoslav electoral design can be considered unstable, with frequent electoral reforms by the state entities (avg. every 4.7 year). Each system also introduced its specific approach to national minorities, which facilitated their representation in the main chambers.
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This article is concerning the topic of authoritarian repressive strategies in hybrid regimes in Latin America. Despite the current academic literature being interwoven with references to the presence of authoritarian repressive strategies in competitive regimes, there is only a little attention being paid to the analysis of their causes in hybrid regimes by the researchers. The goal of this article is to fill the gap, at least partly, and to contribute to resolving this issue by confronting the existing theoretical knowledge with the empirical reality of Latin America. The conclusions show that a big part of the theoretical knowledge that was gathered in recent years will need to be at least revised. First, I find that extensive international relations to the USA reduces the level of intimidation against oppositions, but not affect the other authoritarian repressive strategies. Second, the results show that rulers do not choose the form of repression based on whether they have or not they have a legislative majority. And finally, these results show that our ability to explain the causes of long-term repression is fairly limited.
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The aim of the paper is to assess the state of sustainability through the SDG index. The primary method of the paper is the analytical-synthetic method. This method combines the approach to sustainability and eco-innovation as a tool for the development of sustainability in the world in the context of metrics and data affecting the SDG index. The results show that Europe is the best in terms of achieving the goals of sustainable development worldwide. Nevertheless, Europe faces major challenges in achieving several sustainable development goals.
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Information and communication technologies have undergone substantial development in recent decades. These changes have been manifested not only in the economy, but also in people’s everyday life, as modern technologies have fundamentally transformed working methods, leisure activities, and administrative processes. The strong influence of advanced trends has also left changes in public administration. The international concept of eGovernment has come to the fore, known in Slovakia due to the development of the Internet public services under the “informatization” of public administration. In Slovakia, as well as throughout the world, the primary objective of electronification is to increase the obligations of the state administration, reduce corruption, improve communication within the public administration itself, increase transparency, save finances, eliminate empty bureaucracy, and simplify the contact of citizens with the authorities. eGovernment allows individual states a range of options for delivering public services electronically, such as interactive collaboration or providing information online. In spite of all the advantages brought by information and communication technologies, the Slovak Republic still lags behind in the implementation of computerization in public administration. In the field of electronic public administration, individual processes are constantly influenced primarily by external changes (political), but also by internal changes (organizational). These are precisely the types of changes that can be described as limiting factors for the development of eGovernment. The objective of the present paper is to analyze how public policy actors in three studied countries influence the development and implementation of electronic public administration. The analysis will then culminate in the proposal of appropriate solutions to remove the identified barriers for the conditions of the Slovak Republic.
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Motivation: Studies on the impact of the Eastern enlargement on economies of the EU15 indicate that the new member states could not be a significant engine for development processes. However, this does not exclude that the Eastern enlargement and acceding countries could have a significant impact on the mechanisms of the development of the EU15. If we consider Eastern enlargement as a Schumpeterian innovation, its longterm effects should be evident in the way creative destruction affects economic development. Aim: The aim of the study was to determine the impact of the Eastern enlargement on the economic development of the EU15 in the context of creative destruction. In particular, the aim of the empirical analyzes was to determine whether and to what extent the enlargement of the EU was a factor modifying the impact of creative destruction on the development of “old” members countries, and to identify the role of the new member states in these processes. Results: Econometric analysis confirmed that creative destruction influenced economic development in the EU15, and that Eastern enlargement was a factor modifying the relationship between creation, destruction, and the rate of change of GDP per capita. The Eastern enlargement has mobilized two opposing forces. The “internal” force resulting from market selection in the EU15, which after 2004 became an active component of creative destruction, contributing however to a lower rate of change in GDP per capita. The “external” force, related to the mechanism of transmission of impulses within the grouping: synergy effects from destruction in new member countries were a catalyst for the development processes of the EU15, and synergy effects from creation were inhibitors for these processes. In the context of our research the “development leaders” can be considered the largest beneficiaries of Eastern enlargement in the EU15
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Party politics across Central and Eastern Europe has become less structured. Many of the divides that anchored political competition have waned in recent years, weakening the attachment of voters to the existing palette of parties and making them more likely to be attracted to new and non-traditional electoral vehicles. But for such parties to succeed at the ballot box, they need to be able to frame elections and campaign effectively. Drawing on data from a specially commissioned survey, we find that the success of Ordinary People and Independent Personalities (OĽaNO) led by Igor Matovič in the 2020 parliamentary elections in Slovakia owed much to the crafting of an anti-corruption appeal combined with an effective campaign. Both mobilization and conversion of voters, particularly through television and the leaders’ debates, in the months leading up to election day ensured OĽaNO won a quarter of the vote. OĽaNO stands in stark contrast to other parties whose leaders failed to craft as effective a message, miscalculated the impact of electoral rules and in some cases were unable to distance themselves enough from their past actions. The success of OĽaNO underlines that themes related to anti-corruption and good governance have become central to party politics and political contestation. More broadly, the election and its aftermath continued a general trend of forward movement of voters from old parties to new to newer still, indicating the churn of party politics in Slovakia is likely to continue.
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This article offers the first ever comparative analysis of the involvement of V4 parliaments in the sphere of European Union (EU) affairs. Its underlying research objective is to determine what conditions V4’s parliamentary participation in various EU-oriented activities such as domestic scrutiny of the government’s EU policy, the political dialogue with the Commission, the Early Warning System for subsidiarity control, and the green card initiative. Based on the actual scrutiny output, parliamentary minutes, and data from questionnaires, we address the questions: (1) To what extent domestic legislatures act as autonomous as opposed to government-supporting actors in these arenas? (2) Do they mostly act as EU veto players, or try to contribute constructively to the EU policy-making process by bringing alternative policy ideas? (3) What are their motivations for engaging in direct dialogue with EU institutions in addition to domestic scrutiny? and (4) How MPs envisage their own EU-oriented roles? While the article reveals that V4 parliaments mostly act as gatekeepers in the sphere of EU affairs, it also casts a new light on the previous literature findings related to the EU-oriented performance of the Czech and Polish lower chambers. We conclude that, generally, V4 parliaments refrain from fully exploiting their relatively strong formal prerogatives in EU affairs—a fact that can be partly explained by the composition of their ruling majorities.
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The article analyzes the peculiarities of Beijing’s positioning in the context of the Russian-Ukrainian war. The author examines Beijing’s official rhetoric and actions regarding the war in the context of a number of key geopolitical and PRC goals – strengthening global influence by removing the US from leadership positions, taking control of Taiwan, turning Russia into a dependent country. Particular attention is paid to the internal determinants of Beijing’s position, such as national-historical sentiments, problems of socioeconomic development and the issues of further development of the political system. Currently, China’s geostrategy is dominated by the negative consequences of the war, for example, the growth of the unity of the West and the role of the United States, the strengthening of anti-Chinese sentiments in the Asia-Pacific region, the aggravation of the Taiwan issue against the background of PRC’s internal troubles.
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The aim of this article is to present marriage and family protection in the light of Polish constitutional law. The Constitution of the Republic of Poland provides for this protection through a constitutional guarantee. The publication shall present aspects of marriage and family not only on the basis of the regulations of the Basic Law, but also in accordance with the Family and Guardianship Code. The discussion in this article focuses mainly on protection of the institution of marriage and family as the fundamental social unit. Furthermore, a comparative analysis of constitutional legislation including the Basic Law of the Republic of Italy and Spain in the field of marriage and family protection has been performed.
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Review of: Neopragmatism și Postliberalism: un Welthansaaung contemporan/ Neopragmatism and postliberalism: a contemporary Weltanschauung, Henrieta Anișoara Șerban, Editura ISPRI, 2021.
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Abstract: Today, after the pandemic caused by the Covid-19 virus has hit the whole world, everyone has seen how their lives can be changed in a relatively short time and how fragile is the freedom of movement. On the one hand, people have begun to question animal to human transmissible diseases, with so called zoonoses (such as the Sars CoV2 virus) giving them greater prominence. Even if the incidence of zoonoses is not very high, the risk of transmitting diseases from animals to humans exists and the most recent and cruel example was given to us in 2020 by the pandemic created by Covid-19 virus. For this reason, European authorities or the national ones imposed certain strict rules of conduct that must be followed by all people.On the other hand, compared to the fact that, usually, all persons were subject to the measures of the authorities, many of them began to question about how these measures, which restrict their freedoms and rights, could be challenged in front of the courts of justice. The restrictive measures cannot be unlimited, because in a state governed by the rule of law, they must be verifiable by the courts, if someone complaints about them. Currently, because of the social networks, information is transmitted extremely fast worldwide (and even faster at European level), so that people in a particular country can easily find out what measures are being taken by the authorities in other countries. Thus, the people begin to rise different questions: Why has the state where I live closed its borders, while the neighboring state allows people to cross without restrictions? Why do I have to wear a face mask in the open spaces, while people in another state only need to wear the mask indoors? Why in some countries public crowd is allowed in sports competitions and, in others, the competitions take place without an audience? We will try to answer to this kind of questions throughout this paper, highlighting the severity of zoonoses and the specifics of protection measures taken at European level where the EU is trying to make them as uniform as possible.
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Review of: Bill Emmott, The Fate of the West: The Battle to Save the World's Most Successful Political Idea, London: The Economist Books, 2018.
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Many people from different parts of the world leave their geography due to reasons such as war, poverty and natural disasters and migrate to other countries for a better future and life. With Russia's military operation in Ukraine, millions of Ukrainian citizens have passed to European countries and become refugees. European countries have also implemented an open-door policy and given great support to Ukrainian refugees. However, the fact that European countries have taken a strict attitude towards accepting refugees from regions such as Asia, Africa and the Middle East for years has brought along criticisms that Europe distinguishes between refugees. In this study, a critical evaluation will be made on the policy differences of Europe between Ukrainian refugees and refugees from other countries.
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The study focuses on the issues of retrospectives and perspectives of the choice of system of government in the history of Ukrainian statehood from the beginning of the 20th century until today. On the one hand, the study aims to systematize the evolution of political systems and systems of government within the framework of history of Ukrainian statehood. On the other hand, the research seeks to develop a holistic view of what are the risks and prospects of the current system of government in Ukraine. Given this, the article characterizes and systematizes the conditions and evolution of political systems, as well as basic political institutions in the triangle “the head of state – cabinet – parliament” in various historical states and state entities on the territory of contemporary Ukraine. Based on this, the author verifies the extent to which the current system of government in Ukraine follows the previous/historical inter-institutional designs and corresponds to the “path dependence” concept. Finally, special attention is paid to verification the argument that the current system of government in Ukraine needs to be reformed or optimized, including in view of institutional, political, and legal heritage of political institutions in Ukraine in the past, as well as given the experience of other European countries.
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The article presents an overview of theoretical knowledge on cross-border public services, which represent a specific form of public services dealing with shared issues or development potentials of cross-border regions. In addition to the terminological definition and operationalization of cross-border public services, the article reviews obstacles to their implementation, as well as the good practice examples. Based on the ESPON analysis, it concludes with practical recommendations for regional, national and supranational stakeholders who are capable to facilitate the development of cross-border public services.
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A discussion about Cuba implies a question of how to find the mean between democracy, characterised by a range of ideas and possibilities, and social welfare. The triumph of socialism in Cuba during the Cold War paved the way for the social welfare, thanks to loyalty of the people towards the ruling Communist Party. Behind the attempt to properly tackle contemporary social issues lies the persistence of the Communist Party to justify its long-term survival on the Cuban political scene. The study of Cuban history during the 20th century reveals that the destiny of the island was determined by generations of politicians, who did not want to give up power in favour of younger and more progressive generation. As a result, democracy boiled down to the right to vote, which led to social turmoil and the need for the US intervention into Cuba's internal order. Nevertheless, socialism did not transform itself into a welfare state with a multi-party system, neither after the Cold War. Apparently, the current president will have to decide on further destiny of socialism in Cuba. Although Serbia did not complete its process of democratisation, it could contribute to transformation of socialism in Cuba towards enhancement of democracy and the process of democratisation.
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