Suchergebnisse

The Europeanization of the Western Balkans requires changes of national constitutions to adjust the countries' supreme laws in accordance with "European Standards." This article examines the causes, dynamics, and models of these changes in Croatia, Serbia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina based on the experiences of other EU Member States. This comparative analysis reveals not only similarities and differences in democratic transition between former and future Member States, but it also sheds light on the constitutional dimension of the EU Member State Building process. While the EU does not condition membership upon constitutional changes that go beyond the Copenhagen Criteria, it can be witnessed that the implementation of the Acquis Communautaire will lead to far-reaching changes in the political, social and economic systems of future Member States. Consequently, the European Union becomes an active counselor and participant in the process of constitutional evolution in the region.

This article theorises the territorial solidarity and fiscal federalism and compares Switzerland with the European Union. While inter-territorial solidarity is a prerequisite for legitimate fiscal equalisation, such equalisation in turn also contributes to the legitimacy of and solidarity within federal political systems. By cutting across territorial and ethno-national communities, fiscal transfers often contribute to both a "civic" sense of belonging and a "cosmopolitan" identity. After placing types and degrees of (inter-)territorial solidarity at the heart of our conceptual perspective, we discuss the effects of such solidarity through an analysis of two different forms of "federal" equalisation. Comparing the recently reformed Swiss fiscal equalisation system with the EU structural funds allows us to infer if, and how, the fiscal dimension of federalism matters for feelings of solidarity, reciprocity, unity and, ultimately, for the legitimacy of the very (nation-state or Union) structures that are to contribute to the ever-growing prosperity and happiness of their people(s). In Switzerland, a civic understanding of nationhood and cross-cutting cleavages were necessary conditions for extensive, effective and legitimate fiscal equalisation. We infer that, for the EU, this means that strengthening the equalisation component of the structural funds would contribute to an ever closer Union in a political sense: because fiscal equalisation and inter-territorial solidarity are interdependent, reinforcing the one also means cementing the other. Future studies of the EU and federal-type arrangements are advised to pay more explicit attention to the solidarity-element of territoriality – or the territoriality of (fiscal) solidarity.

This article explores the debate on local ownership in Bosnia and Herzegovina by examining the limits of international community support for reform in a divided political environment in which decision-makers and politicians have little to no interest in reform themselves. After a short review of the key issues and arguments regarding ownership in BiH, the example of education reform is presented to demonstrate the role of the OSCE as an external actor in this reform sector, and the lack of any reform progress in this field in the absence of external pressure. The article closes with reflections on whether or not external organizations can make any systemic-level impact in such a hostile reform environment, and whether the OSCE can still play a constructive role in Bosnia.

This collection of articles brings together several discrete but overlapping perspectives of both the content and form of federalism. In most cases there is an empirical focus upon centralising and decentralising trends in federal states, but here and there is also a focus upon federalisation as a process, and special attention is paid to the notion of de-federalisation in the case of the Russian Federation.

This article explores the debate on local ownership in Bosnia and Herzegovina by examining the limits of international community support for reform in a divided political environment in which decision-makers and politicians have little to no interest in reform themselves. After a short review of the key issues and arguments regarding ownership in BiH, the example of education reform is presented to demonstrate the role of the OSCE as an external actor in this reform sector, and the lack of any reform progress in this field in the absence of external pressure. The article closes with reflections on whether or not external organizations can make any systemic-level impact in such a hostile reform environment, and whether the OSCE can still play a constructive role in Bosnia. (Nationalities Papers)

Intro -- ABBREVIATIONS -- TABLES -- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS -- Introduction -- 1. The Right to be Elected as a Basic Human Right -- 1.1. Political Participation -- 1.2. Active and Passive Suffrage -- 1.3. Conceptual Development of the Right tobe Elected -- 1.4. Guarantee of the Right to be Elected in International and Regional Human Rights Law -- 1.5. Guarantee of the Right to be Elected in Comparative Constitutional Law -- 1.6. Limitations of the Right to be Elected -- 2. Protection of the Right to be Elected in the European Convention on Human Rights-Case Study of Bosnia and Herzegovina -- 2.1. The Protection of the Right to be Elected in Bosnia and Herzegovina -- 2.2. The European Court of Human Rights' Evaluation of the Cases concerning the Discrimination in Enjoyment of the Right to be Elected in Bosnia and Herzegovina -- 2.3. The Impact of the European Court of Human Rights Decisions Concerning the Right to be Elected in Bosnia and Herzegovina -- 2.3.1. The Impacts of the European Court of Human Rights Decisions to the EU-Membership Process -- 3. Protection of the Right to be Elected in the Americas and Africa -- 3.1. Inter-American Court of Human Rights Case Law -- 3.2. African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights Case Law -- Concluding Remarks -- Bibliography.

Intro -- PREFACE -- ILLUSTRATIONS -- 1. INTRODUCTION -- 1.1 The Balkan space between problems of multiplicity and claims of homogeneity -- 1.2 The role of writing and of the "Other" in the national discourse -- 1.3 Methodological considerations: sources and approaches -- 1.4 Semiotic and relational aspects of alphabets and nationalism -- SECTION I. ALPHABETIC DISPUTES OF THE 1920s AND 1930s IN BULGARIA -- 2. THE RECEPTION OF THE ABECEDAR PRIMER (1925) IN BULGARIA -- 2.1 Issues related to the adoption of new writing systems -- 2.2 Post-imperial national identity dynamics

Intro -- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS -- FOREWORD -- INTRODUCTION -- 1. "A text about a text": constitutions of Britain and Bosnia -- 1.1 Searching for the soul of a state -- 1.2 Overview of the British constitution -- 1.3 Overview of the Bosnian constitution -- 1.4 Comparative constitutional histories -- 2. "Look a shoot is sprouting": measuring culture -- 2.1 Political culture in theory -- 2.2 Political culture in practice -- 2.3 Political culture applied to Bosnia and Britain -- 2.4 Problem of political apathy -- 3. "Going back to whence I sprang": assessing apathy -- 3.1 A-systemic orientations -- 3.2 Anti-systemic orientations -- 3.3 Absence of interpersonal trust -- 3.4 Institutions as an explanation -- 4. "We've still not found a cure": constitutional rules -- 4.1 Constitutional choice and change -- 4.2 Recurrent crisis and rarefied reform in Bosnia -- 4.3 Rising strain amidst weak reform in Britain -- 4.4 Reform dilemmas and deadlock -- 5. "We need to uncover lost paths": modelling change -- 5.1 Modelling intransigence -- 5.2 Modelling the failure of reform -- 5.3 Modelling successful evolution in the short run -- 5.4 Modelling future co-operation and participation -- 6. "A text about hope": lessons from Bosnia and Britain -- 6.1 Debate, deliberation and participation -- 6.2 Lessons for Bosnia and post-conflict societies -- 6.3 Lessons for Britain and pre-conflict societies -- 6.4 Pathways out of constitutional quagmires -- BEYOND LAW, PRESCRIPTIONS AND CONCLUSIONS -- AFTERWORD -- APPENDICES -- GLOSSARY -- REFERENCES.

Intro -- Contents -- List of Figures -- Preface -- A Description of a Project -- Approaches to What? -- An Appropriate Gesture -- A Postcard from Bosnia -- A Travelogue on the Balkans -- The Case of Dayton Bosnia -- Deconstructing Territorial Ethno-Politics -- Remembering Trauma in Dayton Bosnia -- European Spatial Imaginaries and Balkanism -- An Attempt: Day One -- An Attempt: Day Two -- An Attempt: Day Three -- A Motive for this Project -- War and the Spectacle -- The Ground of the Image -- A Non-Ontopological Account -- Deconstructing Dayton -- A Final Journey -- Bibliography -- Index.