Suchergebnisse

The topic of this contribution is marital structure of the population of Vojvodina, based on the data from the last census from 2002. Due to the limited space, the analysis is reduced just to the basic indicators of marital structure: the distribution of the population according to the marital status, average age of the population when forming or dissolving unions, celibacy and divorced condition, while the processes of nuptiality and divorce rate, as the dynamic factors in the shaping of the structure, had to be left out. In short, the paper advocates the thesis about the blocked second demographic transition in Vojvodina. On the eve of the new millennium a demographic trend occurring in Vojvodina began in the developed European regions at the end of the1960s, that is in the 1990s in case of Central and Eastern Europe. The basic features of that demographic regime were the decline of marriage universality, postponement of the formation of unions for later years, increase of different life-styles in pairs outside classic marriage, increase in divorce and general instability of unions, increase of celibacy and giving birth outside marriage, increase in gender equality in the private and public sphere, with further decrease in fertility to very low levels and acceleration of the processes of population ageing. In that respect, Vojvodina - as well as Central Serbia - lag behind the developed states of North-West Europe, but also the states in the postsocialist transformation. Modernization of marriage, its deinstitutionalization liberation from the traditional value system, ideological changes which were registered in Vojvodina in 1980s, were discontinued because of the eruption of events on the global social plane, which slowed down the approach of this part of West Balkans to a broader, European environment.

The process of demographic changes in European countries is characterized by greater and greater ageing of the population, as a result of the decline in the rate of natural increase and the rise in life expectancy. Europeans have less and less children, they live longer and face the problems how to ensure a safe old age. Noticed trends of change will be intensified till the middle of the new millennium (2050), when the following situation is expected: the decline in the number of children (0-14 years) for almost 20% and the active-working population (15-64), while there will be more "old persons" (65-79) for more than 44%, and "the oldest" persons (80 or more) for even 180%. Ageing of the population characterizes all regions, but is specially pronounced in the countries in the south and countries in transition. Faced with the challenges of the disturbances in the demographic structure, the members of the European Union (25) developed an entire spectrum of measures and activities to prevent the negative social-economic consequences. Creation of "the policy of ageing" at the Union level develops within the co-ordination (OMC) of the process of modernization of the social security system (old-age pension insurance, health insurance, social and child protection); it also implies the creation of conditions for "the active old age" (increase in employment and staying as long as possible on the job market), the development of "the new forms of solidarity" between generations (as a consequence of the increase of the coefficient of dependency between active working and supported population), preventing poverty and social exclusion, etc. Strategic documents, directions and national action-plans determined the concrete measures needed to face the demographic challenges.

"In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks and the ensuing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, concerns about the future role of NATO have unleashed a substantial debate among U.S. foreign policy experts and think tank analysts. In performing a qualitative content analysis, this paper comprehends and analyzes the unfolding discussion about the role of NATO currently conducted in the United States. In the policy-making process, think tanks are assumed to perform a double function. They shape the contents of a policy-relevant issue by advancing distinctive policy recommendations, and simultaneously carve out areas for consensus-building prior to the decisionmaking process. Accordingly, the first step of the analysis comprehends their approach, against which the line of argument regarding NATO as well as the policy recommendations are outlined. The prevailing issues of burdensharing and NATO enlargement furthermore provide a guideline that leads through the analysis. In a second step, major differences and overlaps between the camps are identified in order to carve out trends that are likely to prevail in future NATO politics. In the ensuing debate about NATO, four camps can be distinguished: libertarian, neoconservative, conservative, and liberal. While these camps outline distinct policy options, especially conservatives and liberals share the common objective of maintaining NATO well into the future. However, despite this commonly pursued goal, both camps remain skeptical towards NATO as a multilateral security organization and rather adopt an 'instrumentalist' view of NATO that is likely to extend into the future. In focusing on the input provided by think tanks concerning a particular policy debate, rather than the outcome of specific policies, this analysis also addresses an insufficiently-researched area of foreign policymaking and identifies implications for follow-up studies." (author's abstract)

We show how different approaches to developing marketing strategies depend on the type of environment a firm faces, where environments are distinguished in terms of their systems properties rather than their content. Particular emphasis is given to turbulent environments in which outcomes are not a priori predictable and are not traceable to individual firm actions and we show that, in these conditions, the relevant unit of competitive response and understanding is no longer the individual firm but the network of relations comprising interdependent, interacting firms. Networks of relations are complex adaptive systems that are more 'intelligent' than the individual firms that comprise them and are capable of comprehending and responding to more complex and turbulent environments. Yet they are co-produced by the patterns of actions and interactions of the firms involved. The creation and accessing of such distributed intelligence cannot be centrally directed, as this necessarily limits it. Instead managers and firms are involved in a kind of participatory planning and adaptation process through which the network self-organizes and adapts. Drawing on research in systems theory, complexity, biology and cognitive science, extensions to the resource-based theory of the firm are proposed that include how resources are linked across relations and networks in a dynamic and evolutionary way. The concepts of an extended firm and soft-assembled strategies are introduced to describe the nature of the strategy development process. This results in a more theoretically grounded basis for understanding the nature and role of relationship and network strategies in marketing and management. We finish by considering the research implications of our analysis and the role of agent-based models as a means of sensitizing and informing management action.

Democratic politics might be defined as the agonistic struggle of different parties, groups or individuals over resources, recognition and influence under reciprocal and inclusive conditions. It is based on an unconditional orientation to equality as well as freedom of all those involved to consent to - or dissent from - the norms, policies and practices that are established in the process of public dialogue. This article reconstructs the general agent-based capabilities required for a democratically defined public sphere under conditions of globalization. Making capabilities central is intended to correct a certain over-emphasis regarding institutional macro-structures in the discourse on globalization and cosmopolitanism. After setting the stage with a critical analysis of Martha Nussbaum's concept of capabilities, the analysis proceeds in two major steps. In the first part, a notion of hermeneutic agency is introduced that avoids a Foucauldian reduction of agency to power structures, while thoroughly situating agency in a symbolically mediated social context. The symbolic mediation of agency is, in the second part, taken as a ground of potentiality for reflexive capabilities that, once actualized and enacted, allow for a normatively satisfying process of public deliberation. The aim of the analysis is to relate a normative model of value-orientation to the linguistically grounded empirical resources of social agents. The core argument lays out as basic capabilities (1) to be able to normatively orient oneself at contextually defined yet universally open postconventional commitments, (2) to be able to engage in an interpretive and dialogical perspective-taking vis-a-vis differently situated agents and backgrounds, and (3) to be able to critically distance oneself from one's taken-for-granted assumptions and background structures via a power-alert social reflexivity.

PurposeThe diffusion of performance related pay has attracted considerable academic attention over the past decade. While much contemporary debate has focussed on the excesses of executive remuneration at the "big end of town", what is not so prominent are the views of unions representing employees at the other end of the remuneration spectrum: this is the purpose of this paper.Design/methodology/approachEvidence was gathered at two levels using two sets of research instruments: in‐depth interviews with senior union officials, and primary documentation analysis with specific reference to performance appraisal and performance‐related pay clauses in union Enterprise Bargaining Agreements.FindingsDocument analysis reveals that performance appraisal and performance‐related pay clauses range from mere stipulation of existence to detailed processes and principles of design and implementation. Specific clauses in the white‐collar unions' agreements suggest that they are not totally opposed. However, the lack of performance appraisal and performance‐related pay clauses in the blue‐collar unions' agreements illustrate their propensity to restrict pay increases to a job classification structure. Although there were clauses that aimed to ensure a performance‐oriented culture, their agreements seem to be mere sentiments. Overall, only one union supports the notion of performance related pay; the others find performance appraisals difficult to embrace. Negative experiences and consequent problems lead them to argue that the process is complicated and usually puts workers at a disadvantage.Originality/valueStrands of different explanations account for union opposition, but the principal issue is that performance appraisal has only an evaluative function, that is to link performance to pay. To minimise problems in shaping PRP schemes, the unions advocated the integration of a social dimension; transparency and equality.

Globalization has substantially changed the political, economic and social patterns with which humanity has moved during the last 30 years. The integration of economies, accelerated change, and the revolution of technologies relate to an ancient phenomenon, although qualitatively different. However, the process of intensification of global interconnections has produced consequences that sometimes point in opposite directions: integration and fragmentation, homogenization and diversification, globalization and localization. Some of the results of the globalization process have been translated into experiences of weakening of the state and the fracture of societies. This last case is related to the awakening of identity demands based on ethnicity, a religious worldview, or the simple awakening of lethargic nationalisms. The following essay attempts to review the premises and classifications that, from various theoretical angles, explain the aforementioned trend in world politics. ; Lo globalización ha cambiado sustancialmente las pautas políticas, económicas y sociales con que la humanidad se ha movido durante los últimos 30 años. La integración de economías, el cambio acelerado, la revolución de las tecnologías hablan de un fenómeno antiguo aunque cualitativamente distinto. Sin embargo, el proceso de intensificación de las interconexiones globales ha producido consecuencias que a veces apuntan a direcciones opuestas: integración y fragmentación, homogeneización y diversificación, mundialización y localización. Algunos de los resultados del proceso de globalización se han traducido en experiencias de debilitamiento estatal y fractura de sociedades. Este último caso se relaciona con el despertar de demandas identitarias basadas en la etnicidad, una cosmovisión religiosa, o el simple despertar de nacionalismos aletargados. El siguiente ensayo pretende repasar las premisas y las clasificaciones que desde diversos ángulos teóricos explican la referida tendencia en la política mundial.

This paper examines diverse aspects of the monetary integration of the ten new Member States (NMS) which joined the EU on 1 May 2004 into the euro area. Most NMS have undergone a rapid and deep transformation in all areas with considerable progress in their processes of reform and convergence, and more is underway. While trade integration with the other 15 EU Member States (EU15) has progressed quickly, convergence in output specialisation to EU standards has been slow, especially if measured in real terms. This may influence negatively the pace of real convergence. Most NMS lag significantly behind in building up and deepening their financial systems. There is also evidence that exchange rate flexibility may still be serving as a useful shock absorber for some NMS, and so far the evidence indicates that real exchange rates have moved, broadly speaking, in line with long term fundamental equilibria. On the positive side, many NMS are quite advanced relative to the euro area in the process of labour market and institutional reform (their labour market structures are more flexible than those of the euro area countries). There is also some evidence that a few NMS have a significant degree of business-cycle synchronisation with the euro area: hence, they may become less likely to be affected by different economic shocks. This, however, is not true for all NMS. The monetary policy institutions of the NMS have also converged to some degree - goals and institutional settings of central banks are now much more similar than before. A case-by-case approach to adopting the euro, based on country-specific conditions, seems natural due to the differences between the countries.

The organisation of governance in metropolitan areas is one of the most debated topics in urban social science. This long-running debate has long been dominated by the dispute between two intellectual traditions: the metropolitan reform tradition advocating institutional consolidation, and the public choice approach making the case for fragmentation and local autonomy. Since the 1990s, a new perspective has emerged – the so-called 'new regionalism' – emphasizing the role of network-based schemes of cooperation for area-wide governance. It echoes a conceptual shift in thinking about the ways in which the state could and should steer society, emphasizing governance through negotiation, rather than through hierarchy or market. Drawing on this conceptual background, this paper discusses the problems and prospects of area-wide governance in the metropolitan area of Sydney. The arguments will be developed in three sections. The first section is dedicated to the theoretical background of the debate on metropolitan governance, and develops the conceptual framework for the subsequent analysis of metropolitan governance problems in Sydney. This will follow, in the second section, with an overview of the key characteristics of the intergovernmental relations, as well as of the institutional setting that frames metropolitan governance in Australia in general, and in Sydney in particular. The third section presents results of my own research focusing on the process of elaborating the latest Metropolitan Strategy in Sydney. I will argue that the chances of achieving strong metropolitan governance capacity in the Sydney area are extremely weak under current conditions, due to a) strong intergovernmental tensions, b) high geopolitical fragmentation, and c) conceptual incoherence in the elaboration process of the Metropolitan Strategy. We discuss two possible routes towards strengthening metropolitan governance capacity: one 'old regionalist' and one 'new regionalist'. It is concluded that, as the 'old regionalist' solution ...

This paper offers a critical analysis of the strategic framework for long-term economic development of Serbia, of the role of strategic development in the success of the transition process, and the consequences of the lack of a development strategy. The strategy of long-term economic development of Serbia, as a programme intended to designate the economic and development policy of the state, is analyzed with the aim of finding an acceptable formulation of development strategy. The authors consider various approaches and propose a strategy for Serbia in the period of transition towards market economy. They also point out that, in the period of transition from a government-planned towards a market economy, strategy should be given greater importance than in periods that do not represent turning points, because of the greater possibility of incorrect policy making, potential conflicts of interest groups, reaching sustainable development, and maximizing prosperity. The authors take into account the advantages and disadvantages of the radical and of the gradualist approach to transition and propose formulating a development strategy that would contain combined elements of plan and market mechanisms. They believe that the process of transition lacks a clear development strategy, and that the quality of the existing development strategy of Serbia until 2010 is such that it cannot be understood as a serious approach to the transition issue. The authors stress the consequences of undergoing transition without a development strategy, that include inappropriate dynamic and sequence of reforms; a lack of coordination between development policy, macroeconomic policy, market reforms, and spatial planning policy; higher costs of transition, insufficient rate of economic growth, etc. They offer proposals for a comprehensive development framework (CDF) and for strategic planning of territorial industrial development.

This essay has two objetives. In the first place, it is a discussion of the development of the coup d'etat against Hugo Chávez during April 11th at 14th of 2002, focusing on the competing views of the opposition and supporters of the government in relation to three processes: the march against the violation of "meritocracia" in the oil industry (corporate criteria for selecting the managers of the state's oil company), the massacre that took place on April 11th, and the act of proclamation of Pedro Carmona as president on April 12th. The essay examines in particular the choreography of these events and the changing conceptions of the nation and the state involved in these processes. Secondly, on the basis of this examination, the essay concludes with some theoretical observations concerning the state, its constitution, and the manner in which it exerts its hegemony. ; Este ensayo tiene dos objetivos. En primer lugar, es una discusión sobre el golpe de Estado contra Hugo Chávez que se desarrolló entre el 11 y el 14 de abril de 2002. Se enfoca en las contrapuestas visiones de la oposición y de los partidarios del gobierno en relación con tres procesos: la marcha en protesta contra la violación de la meritocracia petrolera, la masacre del 11 de abril y el acto de proclamación de Pedro Carmona como presidente el 12 de abril. Examina en particular la coreografia de estos eventos y la transformación de las concepciones de la nación y el Estado involucradas en estos procesos. En segundo lugar, sobre la base de esta examinación, el ensayo concluye con algunas observaciones teóricas sobre el Estado, su constitución y la forma como ejerce su hegemonía.

Health impact assessment (HIA) is a process that aims to predict potential positive and negative effects of project, programme or policy proposals on health and health inequalities. It is recommended by national government and internationally. Supporting health impact assessment is one of the roles of English Public Health Observatories.The few centres in England with accredited health impact training centres have inadequate resources to meet demand. Currently, the London Health Observatory is providing the bulk of the training nationally. Some Public Health Observatories are currently investigating the preferences for support of those commissioning or conducting health impact assessment within their regions.The availability of published guidance on how to conduct health impact assessments has increased substantially over the past few years. The Department of Health has funded a research project led by the London Health Observatory to develop advice for reviewing evidence for use in health impact assessment. Completed health impact assessments can be useful resources. Evaluation of the process and impact of health impact assessment is important in order to demonstrate its usefulness and to learn lessons for the future.The focus for Public Health Observatories is to train and support others to conduct health impact assessment according to good practice, rather than undertaking health impact assessments themselves. The aim is to create sufficient skilled capacity around the country to undertake health impact assessments. The London Health Observatory plans to share its support models and to roll out a train the trainer programme nationally to enable effective local delivery of their national health impact assessment programme. (c) 2005 The Royal Institue of Public Health. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Agricultural policy in the transition states of Central Eastern Europe is a very complex issue – ranging from privatisation of farm land, the establishment of agricultural markets to detailed questions of veterinary care, plant health and animal nutrition. Its main elements are the introduction of market liberalization, farm restructuring, privatisation, the reform of the sector and the creation of supporting market institutions and services.1 In this process central state agriculture administration plays a decisive role. This paper is summing up the research of the author on Slovak agricultural administration between 2002 and 2004. This work was part of a DFG-funded research project on "Genesis, Organization and Efficiency of the central-state Ministerial Administration in Central and Eastern Europe". The project was analysing the processes, results and efficiency of administrative structures at central-state level in Estonia, Poland and Slovakia with reference to public administration in the policy fields of agriculture and telecommunications. The paper is reflecting the situation in the sector and its administration at the beginning of 2004. At first, an overview of the role of the agricultural sector in Slovak economy in the past and presence is provided (section I). Against this background, the development of the agricultural policy in the different periods since 1989 will be analysed, mainly what privatisation, accession to the EU and subsidy policy are concerned (section II). A detailed study of the developments in agricultural administration forms the next part of the paper (section III), i.e. the changes taking place in the ministry of agriculture and in the other institutions responsible for the implementation of agricultural policy. The role of interest groups in agriculture is briefly analysed (section IV). In the conclusions two different scenarios on the further development of Slovak agricultural administration will be deployed.

As commonly held, the European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) suffers from a "double democratic deficit": the EP has a marginal role in the ESDP-making process and the national parliaments remain unable to account for their own government. Therefore pressure coming from these two institutions had been exercised during the Convention on the Future of Europe to improve the democratic oversight on this rapidly evolving policy. This paper investigates the innovations included in the Constitutional Treaty, focusing specifically on the new role granted to the EP. It shows that even though this text does not substantially modify the inter-institutional balance of powers in the ESDP area, the EP may take advantage of some of its articles to become an actor in the ESDP-control process in the 'living constitution. ; Com comunament duta a terme, la Política Europea de Seguretat i Defensa (PESD) pateix un "dèficit democràtic doble": el Parlament Europeu té un paper marginal en el procés de presa de la PESD i dels parlaments nacionals segueixen sent incapaç de donar compte del seu propi govern. Per tant, la pressió procedent d'aquestes dues institucions s'havien exercit durant la Convenció sobre el Futur d'Europa per millorar el control democràtic d'aquesta política en ràpida evolució. Aquest treball investiga les innovacions incloses en el Tractat Constitucional, es centra específicament en el nou paper atorgat a l'EP. Això demostra que tot i que aquest text no modifica substancialment l'equilibri inter-institucional dels poders en l'àmbit de la PESD, el Parlament Europeu, podrà fer ús d'alguns dels seus articles per esdevenir un actor en el procés de control de la PESD en la constitució «viure.