"Care Drain". Explaining Bias in Theorizing Women's Migration

Author(s): Speranta Dumitru / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2016

Migrant women are often stereotyped. Some scholars associate the feminization of migration with domestic work and criticize the “care drain” as a new form of imperialism that the First World imposes on the Third World. However, migrant women employed as domestic workers in Northern America and Europe represent only 2% of migrant women worldwide and cannot be seen as characterizing the “feminization of migration”. Why are migrant domestic workers overestimated? This paper explores two possible sources of bias. The first is sampling: conclusions about “care drain” are often generalized from small samples of domestic workers. The second stems from the affect heuristic: imagining children left behind by migrant mothers provokes strong feelings of injustice which trump other considerations. The paper argues that neither source of bias is unavoidable and finds evidence of gender stereotypes in the “care drain” construal.

"Francuski socijalistički eksperiment" - od željenog do mogućeg socijalizma

Author(s): Ognjen Pribicevic´ / Language(s): Croatian / Issue: 02/1989

The electoral victory of French socialists and the establishment of a socialist government in France brought new hope and new expectations not only to French, but also to all European progressive and socialistically oriented forces, concerning the possibilities of more radical social and political reforms even though capitalism continues to rule beyond that country’s borders. Special interest was provoked by the ideas of French Socialists, which were also proposed in the electoral program, relating to the nationalization of the greater part of private firms and to the inclusion of members of the French Communist Party into the government. Although it fulfilled a large part of its electoral promises of 1981, the Socialist Party of France was defeated in the 1986 elections. The author points to the main reason for this failure and also indicates the main changes which have taken place in French society since the beginning of the 1980s.

"Odljev mozgova" iz Jugoslavije

Author(s): Silva Mežnaric,Ivan Grdešic / Language(s): Croatian / Issue: 04/1990

Research into the emigration of highly educated labour, experts, and scientists from Yugoslavia to highly developed countries is intended to serve as an analytical basis for the creation of a policy and of means for the study and decrease of brain drain. Brain drain is a low-structured problem with a variety of causes and opposed values, to which there are no simple, fast, and final solutions. The authors present the main statistical data on the size and the dynamics of the brain drain and the basic motives and causes of this type of migration. The policy's purpose is to transform the one-direction drain into circulation of scientists and scientific information.

"Radno društvo" u jugoslavenskoj koncepciji upravljanja

Author(s): Mirjana Kasapovic / Language(s): Croatian / Issue: 04/1985

The Yugoslav ideological-theoretical concept of self-management does not provide any explicit definition of labour as the new constitutive principle of the community in the manner this is done in some other theories of the so-called council tradition ; nevertheless, its place in the system is indisputably of that character. There are three fundamental ideological-political conditions, as well as non- sequences, of the adoption of the concept »work constitution of the society»: (1) a reconstitution of the concept »the people», (2) a redefinition of the concept »the people», and (3) a redefinition of the concept »the working class». This procedure is found to be meaningful from a theoretical and ideological aspect as well as from the point of view of the political system. A critical scrutiny of the concept »the work society» requires the analysis of the internal consistency of the model and of the basic logical postulates of the concept »the work society» in general.

"Uvjerenje i ustav": Napomene o jednome ne samo hegelovskom problemu

Author(s): Ludwig Siep / Language(s): Croatian / Issue: 04/1988

The central problem of Hegel’s philosophy of law is how to unite the convictions of different individuals into the common will permanently directed towards achieving the common good. Hegel finds the solution in relating convictions to social roles. This pluralism of roles is reconciled with the loyalty to the constitution through a free development of group behaviour and the institutional linkage of private, group and common interests on all the levels of social organization. It was difficult for Hegel to anticipate that the private views could be mediated through common will owing to political organizations.

(Zlo)upotreba pojma suverenosti u federalnim odnosima

Author(s): Slobodan Samardžic / Language(s): Croatian / Issue: 03/1990

In theoretical discussions the concept of sovereignty relates exclusively to political communities and denotes the highest, indivisible and inalienable power at their disposal. In discussions in Yugoslavia the expression »economic sovereignty« extends the use of this concept into the economic sphere. Since sovereign power requires someone to sustain it, namely a sovereign, it cannot be depersonalized; the author therefore tries to establish the consequences (for the economic relations between federal units) of the fact that — in the constitutional arrangements of 1974 — sovereignty does not have a real subject to sustain it. Unable to discover a concrete subject of responsibility the author concludes that this is the consequence of deriving the concept of sovereignty from that of nation. A federal system based on relationships between nations can easily turn into an autocratic system. Only two ways of limiting the consequences of the sovereign power of a nation or of a constitutional person are historically known to exist — parliamentary government and a federal system of state government.

0 uzrocima krize zajedništva i različitim idejnim koncepcijama

Author(s): Zdravko Tomac / Language(s): Croatian / Issue: 04/1982

The widely differing opinions voiced on the causes of the crisis in Yugoslav commonness are the result of different ideological tendencies. The author analyzes those views which seek the causes of the crisis in the constitutional model of Yugoslav federalism and argues against such concepts. The article points out to certain substantive deviations in the practical functioning and development of some institutions from their concept as defined in the constitution and considers them the main causes of the difficulties in realizing Yugoslav commonness. Detailed account is made of the reasons why the character of statehood of the constituent socialist republics has strengthened, why the notions of state and nation are being increasingly identified. The causes of group-property tendencies are outlined, with special reference to the problem of realisation of the constitutional concept of the federation. The conclusion is suggested that the main cause of the crisis of commonness lies in the growing tendency reduce Yugoslav federalism to relations among republic-states in the tact that almost all interests are mediated through the republican states, and in the failure to evolve in practice the constitutional model of association and linkage of different interests through self-management and without the mediation of republican states.

10 points versus 11 points? Effects of Left-right Scale Design in a Cross-national Perspective

Author(s): Cornelia Zuell,Evi Scholz / Language(s): English / Issue: 25/2016

Left-right self-placement on a unidimensional scale is a standard question in many social and political surveys to measure respondents’ ideological orientation in a minimalist way. Although the left-right scale is a standard question, the scale design is not standardized across surveys. One aspect of scale design is the offer of a midpoint. This paper is about design effects on central left-right scale placement in a cross-national context. How do respondents answer if there is no true midpoint: Do respondents who want to express a middle position, in the case of a 10-point scale, use scale middle categories as a substitute for a true midpoint? Are findings consistent across countries? Offering a midpoint is much debated among researchers and quite often, a midpoint might serve as a hidden “don’t know” or a missing attitude. Does nonresponse increase when non-attitudes cannot be expressed by choosing the neutral midpoint to hide nonresponse? If middle categories in the 10-point scale work as substitute for a true midpoint in the 11-point scale, nonresponse will not differ. We tested these questions in a split-half experiment where either a 10-point or an 11-point scale was asked in an experimental web survey fielded in six countries. Our results seem to confirm the idea that respondents who favor choosing a scale middle find a virtual center in the 10-point scale. However, results are inconsistent in cross-national perspective.

A balatoni társadalom kohéziójának kérdései

Author(s): Gergely Kabai / Language(s): Hungarian / Issue: 04/2014

A Century of Failure: Political Science and the Issue of Governance in the Arab World

Author(s): HAMDY R. HASSAN / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2015

What has the Arab world benefited from a century worth of political study? Has it been able to utilize such studies in issues of political succession and democratization? To answer such questions, this paper explores three sets of contexts. First, since the outbreak of WWI, there has been no significant original scientific work in the Arab World. Second, the experts in the field of political science in the Arab World have failed to offer a sufficient degree of formulation or analysis that can aid in solving contemporary issues. This way, stable authoritarianism, has remained the ruling paradigm until the outbreak of Arab Spring. Third, there is a time gap between the East and the West; where the East is always a step behind Western conceptual and theoretical advancements. In addition, many Arab researchers find themselves tied to a Western agenda for research. Even with the limited effort to formulate an Arab-Islamic perspective of political science, such effort is usually directed at the study of early Islamic experiences, with little direct impact on current politics.

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 CYBERNETICS APPROACH TO THE SOVEREIGN DEBT CRISIS

Author(s): Alexandra Maria Constantin / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2015

The purpose of this paper is to approach the sovereign debt crisis from a cyberneticsperspective, as a system that includes several interrelated subsystems. We emphasize thedynamic nature and sustainability of the sovereign debt system. The paper also discusses thetransition from a sovereign debt dynamic system to a sovereign debt crisis dynamic system,transition included in the feedback control loop of the dynamic system of national economy.

A Defence of Gender-based Affirmative Action Grounded on a Comparison of the United States and of the European Union Models

Author(s): Oana Crusmac / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2019

This article presents a defence of gender-based affirmative action programmes against its critiques. It starts from an overview of the history and main criticisms addressing affirmative action programmes, and then proposes several arguments against these criticisms. Several rationales are to be found at the core of this article: first, women still face discrimination in regard to access to education and employment. This position relies on the statistical data referring to both the U.S. and the E.U. Second, gender-based affirmative action should be treated differently than race-based affirmative action since women’s discrimination on the labour market stems mainly from traditional gender norms largely exerted within the family and exercised through state’s family policies (e.g. childcare policies). Third, despite the fact that the article defends gender-based affirmative action against the main critiques, it also argues that this measure alone is an inefficient method to tackle gender inequality. The article concludes that gender-based affirmative action programmes are not effective methods to tackle gender inequality because they address only one part of the problem, namely gender inequality encountered in the public sphere (education and employment), while completely ignoring family and caring responsibilities.

A Distant Mirror: Poland between the Visegrad Group and the Eastern Alliance

Author(s): Artur Roland Kozlowski,Andrzej Piskozub / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2016

The article offers an overview of the position of the Visegrad Group in the history of Central-Eastern Europe. The Group emerged in the 14th Century as a coalition of three medieval kingdoms: Poland, Bohemia and Hungary. Towards the end of the century, Poland favoured an alliance with Lithuania, motivated by the conflict of both states with the Teutonic Order. The shift involved a personal union under the Jagiellonian dynasty, which in the course of time evolved into an actual union (the Union of Lublin, 1569) creating the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (Rzeczpospolita Obojga Narodów). Nationalist ideology, which emerged after the partitions of the Commonwealth towards the end of the 18th Century, resulted in the disintegration of entire Central-Eastern Europe into nation states formed on the basis of ethnic differences. The present study have aimed to verify the potential of the cultural contribution of the Visegrad Group and the Eastern Alliance for the development of European integration processes. The influence of these groups of countries in the external environment in the development of European civilization has been presented in terms of historiosophical. Today, the former medieval partners are members of the European Union, where they revive the Visegrad Group in order to pursue their narrow interests, thus affecting the progress of European integration. Unlike the Visegrad Group there is Easter Alliance perceived as a bloc of countries with a potential for introducing progressive ideas for a constructive development of the European Union.

A konszenzusok felszámolása – Jobboldali populizmus és a „gender-ideológia” fenyegetése

Author(s): Eszter Kováts / Language(s): Hungarian / Issue: 22/2017

Since 2012, several European countries have seen the rise of conservative and, in part, fundamentalist social movements fuelled by the animosity against the perceived threat of „gender ideology” or „gender theory”. Being opposed to women’s rights, LGBTQ issues, certain administrative policy instruments (such as gender mainstreaming) as well as the public financing of gender studies departments, the advocates of these platforms tend to regard all political and non-governmental actors, administrative staff and scientific researchers who focus on these issues as a single homogeneous group and an organised lobby. This is partly manifested in grassroots or religiously-affiliated movements and partly in the agenda of right-wing and populist parties. More and more researchers are convinced by the transnational character of the movements as well as the broad impact of discourses and practices reaching across national borders and issues that we are not dealing with isolated cases, but a coherent phenomenon. Contrary to the three most frequent interpretative frameworks, i. e. the national/local political context, the discourse/mobilisation of the Roman Catholic Church, and the conservative backlash, I discuss these movements in the context of the rise of right-wing populism and on the basis of theoretical explanations seeking to grasp the demand side. On the one hand, I argue that the study of this phenomenon provides important clues for understanding the reasons behind the gain of populist forces in Europe and beyond. On the other hand, I propose that „gender” is not the final target for these movements which should primarily not be understood as mobilizations against equality. Rather, the emergence of these movements is a symptom of a larger crisis, and their ideologies are the surface, where „gender” is a symbolic glue. These mobilizations are rather the throes of a contest for redefining liberal democracy where, in the interpretation of its adversaries, „gender ideology” embodies numerous deficits of the established global power order and the so-called progressive actors, and they react to these by re-politicizing certain issues. Therefore, the interpretations limited to a ‘fight between values’ are rather an obstacle to understand the phenomenon, by repudiating or obscuring this important structural realignment. Based on Chantal Mouffe’s concept of ‘consensus’ and her critique of the established hegemony of consensus in liberal democracy, I discuss the contribution of three phenomena that are characteristic of the so-called progressive actors (including the feminis and LGBTQ actors), namely the neoliberal consensus, the human rights consensus and the consensus about liberal progress, to the rise of the movements against ‘gender ideology’.

A politika, mint politikai probléma. Kis János és Schlett István a politika autonómiájáról

Author(s): Attila Gyulai / Language(s): Hungarian / Issue: 4/2016

Political realism claims that politics can be understood only on its own terms. Realist political theory attempts to have the autonomy of politics recognized and to emancipate politics from the authority of other domains such as ethics, economy or aesthetics. After the democratic transition, Hungarian political theory has claimed autonomy of politics as opposed to technocratic and other deterministic approaches. The study discusses two texts of Hungarian political theory which, differing from the mainstream, conceived the problem of the autonomy of politics in the context of the relationship between politics and morality. János Kis’ ‘Politics as a Moral Problem’ and István Schlett’s answer to that book, ‘Morality as a Political Problem’ represent the two main standpoints in the realist – moralist debate described by contemporary realist theory, however, neither of them fi ts into those positions perfectly. The differences analysed in this article emerge regarding the autonomy of politics. As a conclusion, it is supposed that the concept of the autonomy of politics cannot account for a realist approach to politics.

A SOCIOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF POLITICS AND DEMOCRACY

Author(s): Albert Ogien / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2016

This paper endorses a pluralist conception of politics, which articulates three proposals : 1) the order of politics is scattered throughout society ; 2) its institutionalization takes place in a multitude of ways which are not confined to those acknowledged by State administrations ; and 3) forms of political action manifest themselves under modes that often go far beyond the usual bounds set by official political. In such a perspective, politics is not conceived of as if it were totally detached from the daily life of the members of a society. It thus contends that in their political dealings citizens make use of an ordinary conception of politics and democracy which endows them with a specific idea of the common good and of the rights a State should guarantee to nationals. This contention is empirically put to test through two case studies of political claim staking: civil disobedience and gatherings (encampments, occupations). The article eventually suggest that democracy should be seen as a method for organizing ordinary social relations on the basis of a principle : respecting the plain autonomy and unconditional equality of any citizen.

A STUDY ON DEFENSE ACQUISITION MODELS WITH AN EMERGING MARKET PERSPECTIVE. THE CASE OF TURKEY

Author(s): Mustafa Kemal Topcu,Murat Mala,Selim Müslüm / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2015

With the end of the Cold War, the static environment, characteristic of thebipolar world, has changed quickly into a dynamic and complicated environmentwith new actors. These changes have also affected the countries’ armed forces andnew approaches to procurement/acquisition come into progress. After the Cold War,countries have focused on responding to changing threats with their decreasing defensebudgets. In this study, acquisition models and their effects on Turkey’s technologyacquisition and defense industry are evaluated. The evaluation is performed basedon criteria such as contribution to national economy, customization, acquisition cost,time and risk, life cycle cost, and technology acquisition. Major acquisition modelsin this study are determined as direct procurement, production under license, jointventure, indigenous development, production via international consortium. Finally,it is observed that the best model is indigenous development while the others willserve as technology acquisition for indigenous development.

A terapeutaszerep mint retorikai stratégia Bibó István politikai gondolkodásában

Author(s): Gábor Kovács / Language(s): Hungarian / Issue: 12/2016

Abordări germane contemporane în domeniul istoriei și teoriei relațiilor internaționale: lupta între realism și idealism continuă de zor

Author(s): Elena-Daniela Vasilescu / Language(s): Romanian / Issue: II/2006

Discussion on the books of Ulrich MENZEL, Zwischen Idealismus und Realismus. Die Lehre von den Internationalen Beziehungen, Suhrkamp Verlag, Frankfurt am Main, 2001, 286 pages and Siegfried SCHIEDER, Manuela SPINDLER (Hrsg.), Theorien der Internationalen Beziehungen, Leske+Budrich, Opladen, 2003, 544 pages