Politički mesijanizam i demokratija: o mogućnosti političke samotransformacije demokratije

Author(s): Đorđe Pavićević / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 3/2016

The article deals with the relation of political messianism to ongoing debate on the crisis of democracy. The conceptual framework of political messianism is the convenient analytical tool because it makes the concept of crisis a starting point for formulating a different politics of redemption. Three conceptions of political messianism are being analyzed: as a revolutionary policies, as critical tool, as well as open possibility of radical changes. It shows in all three cases that deep beliefs play an important role in politics and that it is not possible to immunize political order from them. The second part of the paper points to the significance of these insights for understanding the discourse on the crisis of democracy which important part represents the loss of faith in the ability of democratic institutions to formulate a framework for meaningful political actions of citizens. As a result, there has been a transformation of the concept of democracy which now sees political actions of citizens-amateurs as a nuisance. Such a condition produces tensions which are burdening the functioning of democratic regimes. In conclusion, it is noted that contemporary democracies are not able to restore faith in the fundamentals of its existence as long as they insist on the primacy of the form of democracy, which in the meantime has become the norm, but fails to convince the citizens in their intrinsic values.

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.

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.

Jelena Vasiljević, Antropologija 185 građanstva, Mediterran Publishing i Institut za filozofiju i društvenu teoriju, Novi Sad i Beograd, 2016

Author(s): Adriana Zaharijević / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 1/2017

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

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

Philosophy as a Social Critique

Author(s): Veselin Mitrović / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2017

The political liability of a republic’s president

Author(s): Crina Mihaela Verga / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 33/2015

The objective of this study is to make a comparative analysis of the political liability of the head of state in parliamentary republics and in semi presidential republics. The paper introduces the concepts of “non-responsibility” and “inviolability” of the President, concepts concerning the notion of liability. The approach is based on the comment on the constitutional provisions which regard the political liability of the President and on observing how to apply in practice these provisions. As a result of using comparative method, the implications of this study refer to a better knowledge of the regulation of the political liability in certain states which allow an efficient reception and enforcement of the constitutional provisions on the matter.

Nordic States: Towards Unity or Diversity?

Author(s): Anna Kobierecka / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2017

The aim of the article is to examine whether Nordic area can be regarded as a homogenous and successfully cooperating region, which is providing one unified political front. Considering many similarities between Nordic states, as for example shared values (equality, women rights, common love of democracy, peace and welfare state), one could say that Nordic states constitute a single and unitary area. What is more, the linguistic, cultural and historical closeness of those states is a fact, but at the same time many differences can be pointed, especially considering their security and foreign policies. Those aspects seem to be the main obstacle in introducing full cooperation in the region. Nevertheless, it is worth noticing that current international developments and appearance of new threats to security are influencing the Nordic states which, as a result, are changing their attitudes towards security policy. Those factors could lead to introducing new dimensions of their cooperation.

Personal or Party Electoral Campaigns in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Kosovo* - Empirical Findings

Author(s): Boban Stojanović,Nikola Jović / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2017

The main hypothesis of this paper is that candidates who run for elections- run extremely party-oriented campaigns, not personal ones. We test this hypothesis with the help of empirical research (Comparative Candidate Survey), which was conducted in 2015. In the survey, 656 (268 - Serbia, 95 - Bosnia and Herzegovina, 136 - Montenegro and 157 - Kosovo*) respondents were interviewed. The electoral institution that is associated most strongly with the theme of our research is the design of the electoral ballots. In terms of the closure form of the list (blocked lists – Serbia and Montenegro), it can be said that the candidates who are on the electoral list are discouraged from leading personal campaigns and encouraged to direct activities during the election period at promoting the party and party leader. However, in countries with personal voting (not blocked lists – Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo*), the situation is the same. Through insight into the results of comparative research, we see that party campaigns are also dominant in systems with personalised ballots. Candidates for members of parliament only run party- based campaigns. The results of the research on the attitudes and actions of candidates for members of parliament in the last election campaign confirm this tendency. The influence of the party leader, the leadership campaign, obedience and loyalty to the leader of the party, and good relations with him/her are much more important for the candidates than contact with the voters and leading personal campaigns.

Types of Autonomy, Representation, and Participation of the Subnational Political Communities in the Western Balkans: The Case Study of Serbia, the Former Yugoslav Republic Macedonia and Kosovo (under UNSCR 1244/1999)

Author(s): Đorđe Mihajlović / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2017

Borders are changing constantly in the turbulent Balkan region. In the same way the status of one community from majority to minority changes overnight. This work aims to, through comparative analysis, examine how the subnational political communities are integrated in Serbia, FYR Macedonia, and Kosovo by discussing three elements: autonomy, representation, and participation. The work is going to illustrate the applicability of Arend Lijphart’s consociational democracy elements in FYR Macedonia, limited applicability in Kosovo, and despite the existence of some elements the non- existence of consociationalism in Serbia. The work underlines the role of international community, and the armed conflicts in establishing certain provisions that are tangible to the subnational political communities. Finally, the work seeks to demonstrate the importance of the communicating vessels principle in the counties and entities in question.

Ethnic Minority Policies as an Ethnic Cleavage Dimension Within Post-Communist Party Systems: Case Studies of Vojvodina Hungarians and Estonian Russians

Author(s): Leonas Tolvaišis / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2016

Focusing on the case studies of Vojvodina Hungarians and Estonian Russians, the article aims to explain the persistence of ethnic cleavage in post- communist party systems. Ethnic cleavage is expressed in terms of ethnic minority policies pursued by political parties. Th e article relates the degree of stability of the ethnic cleavage within the party system to the persistence of party policy attitudes and policy practices in ethnic minority policy. Th e long- term impact of the salience of ethnopolitical issues at the outset of multi- party system on policy attitudes and policy practices of political parties is summarized in a two- decade- long perspective. A proneness of political party attitudes and practices to path dependence is related to reversal prospects of state minority policies. The article names the limitations of party policy- making in the sphere of ethnic minority policies.

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

Author(s): Ratomir Milikić / 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 Krstić / 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.

Параметар социјалног капитала: поверење грађана Cрбије у политичке институције

Author(s): Jasna Milošević-Đorđević / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 4/2012

This paper critically analysis various conceptual approaches to socal capital phenomenon. Criterias for social capital definition categorisation are also discussed. Social capital is complex phenomenon and could be defined differently, theoretically and operationally. The most frequent definitions are based on economic and/or civil parameters of one country. All parametes of socal capital alone, has limited theoretical and explanational power. But it is important to operationalize the concept, in order to make comparison of different states possible, to develop the strategy for strengthen the state and to follow the trends. Focus is on one element of socail capital: trust in the state institutions. Analysis has been made based on the data from the comercial surveys, exploring Serbian citizen’s confidence in the political and state institutions, during the period of 8 years. Data are interprated and compared with the trends from other countries. Church is in the first group of institutions in Serbia (grouped by citizens confidence), in which more then 50% of the citizens have confidence; second group of institutions are presented by army, President of Serbia and police to which between 20% to 40% of citizens show confidence; third group of institutions are represented by government, parliament, and jurisdiction to which less then 20% of Serbian citizens show confidence. (Dis)Trust in state institutions is stable, during the surveyed 8 year’s period, and group structures shows that trust in institutuins is dependent on actual political power. Negative perception of the direction in which country is going, is dominant among most citizens. There is a link between general confidence in the state and confidence toward state institutions. This paper concludes with agreement to other author’s findings, that the social capital of Serbian state is not developed enough, argumented by the low confidence of Serbian citizen’s in the state institutions compared to other developed countries.

Квантитативна анализа парламентарних група

Author(s): Marko Pejković / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 2/2012

The paper is divided into four parts. The first part theoretically discusses the relationship between the free mandate and the party unity and in this sense this part is an exemption from the others, almost completely quantitative- empirical parts of the paper. Nevertheless, this introductory step was necessary in order to better understand the subject which is discussed in the second part of the paper – parliamentary party group cohesiveness during plenary vote, which stems directly from the fact whether and to what extent MPs balance their double role as representatives of a people and their parties at the same time. The third part examines whether there are statistically significant correlations between the average size or number of party groups and the number of legislative proposals initiated solely from the parliament, on a basis from the data collected from Germany, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Hungary and Serbia. In the fourth part the author offers original and unique formula - Parliamentary party group Development Index. The author holds that this index could substantially help, via matching with other parameters, to measure not only party group performances or impacts, but that of parliament as well, as a whole unit within political system.

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

Author(s): Ana M. Gavrilović,Aleksandar L. Jugović / 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.

Председнички избори у САД 1968. године и београдска штампа

Author(s): Dario Pikulić / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 1/2014

This article thoroughly examines reports and comments Belgrade press made about American presidential elections in 1968. Sources used were most prominent and influential of the Belgrade Press: three leading daily newspapers and four weekly newspapers (one of them being only weekend edition of one of the daily newspapers and one - The Communist - being included as indubitably ideologically ‘correct’). It is shown that analyzed press was profoundly interested in all aspect of the campaign. It followed not only leading candidates as Nixon and Humphrey, but Wallace, McCarthy and Robert Kennedy as well. Belgrade press looked to foreign as well as domestic impacts of presidential elections and campaign. The sheer number of texts reveals extraordinary interest of the Belgrade public for the subject, yet profound analyses they mostly contain show even deeper reflections of American politics and the American political system in general. Considering this was a period of great unpopularity of American engagement in the Vietnam War and, furthermore, ideological and political differences between the United States and Yugoslavia, enormous interest shown is indicative for both freedom of press in socialist Yugoslavia and its genuine democratic tendencies. This raises a question of very nature of socialist regime in Yugoslavia in late sixties.

Политичка подршка и утемељење демократских вредности

Author(s): Petar M. Matić,Đorđe S. Stojanović / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 3/2011

Easton’s concept of political support and its actualization in current period underlines global legitimacy crisis wave. This trend is present both in transition systems and new and stable democracies. One of objectives in this article is to provide basic theoretical underpinnings of political support conception, as well to empirically follow trends in its different forms and in different political systems. Following mentioned objective, we are ensuing basic one, which is political support positioning in Serbia and possibilities for its future strengthening. As primary method, authors use comparative, in order to compare numerous factors influencing level of political support in ten political systems. According to previously spoken, authors consider political support development in Serbia as crucial component successive democratic transformation of society.

Српски парламентарни одбори - компаративна анализа

Author(s): Marko Pejković / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 4/2011

For a long time the legislative studies have been out of focus in political science. The fall of interest in theory was paralleled with common notion of ’’decline of legislatures’’ inside the political systems. However, during the last few decades, revitalised research of parliaments, especially of their committees, has coincided with new processes of comprehensive parliamentary institutionalisation, primarily through strenghtening of committees in period which in literature is called ’’age of parliaments’’. Therefore, in this paper, the newest Rules of Procedures Act of Serbian National Assembly (july 2010) occupies central place of analysis and in it the status and roll of parliamentary committees. First, theoretical aspect of conceptualizing legislative-executive relationships is mentioned, i.e. the theory of committees as main agents influencing the nature of such relations, then structures, procedures and powers of serbian committees are examined in comparative context, as well as impact of political parties on their membership and functioning. This paper is an attempt of its writer to partly present an institutional arrangement of serbian legislature and to assess reform potentials of committees as parliamentary units.

Улога шефа државе у политичком систему земаља Централне Азије

Author(s): Dragan Trailović / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 4/2011

The aim of this paper is to describe the function, importance and role that head of state as an political institution has in the political system in Central Asian states based on legal acts, especially the constitution, and laws relating to this matter, as well as political practice. The head of state is each country’s important institution in political system responsible for the well functioning of government. It gets its importance especially in those systems of government that can be characterized as presidential or semi-presidential. As the system of government in Central Asian republics can be classified into one of these, we can conclude that the president of the republic is one of the most important government institution in these political systems. A comparative analysis of the constitutional position and role of head of state in this paper covers five Central Asian states - Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. The first part of this paper deals with general characteristics and determinants of political system that are common to all these countries, while the second part of the paper deals with the specific position and role that the president of the republic has in these states individually. The third part of the paper deals with challenges to the political system of these states.