Suchergebnisse

This article is aimed at expanding the democratic tool kit of mechanisms for public consultation. It is aimed at showing that it is indeed possible to combine inclusiveness & thoughtfulness -- rather than force us to choose between them. The author's institutional innovations for combining the two democratic aspirations are deliberative polls & Deliberation day. The article shows that these mechanisms of public consultation manage to avoid contentions that mass participation undermines collective thoughtfulness. Adapted from the source document.

This paper, based on the analysis of articles published in the scientific journal Politicka misao between 1964 and 1987, aims to offer a detailed understanding of the history of IR discipline by combining the conceptual and contextual approach, positioning articles within three major theoretical debates, categorizing them thematically and then placing them within an academic environment. Analyzed articles represent the foundation of the IR discipline, hence its history portrays the way in which, in SFRY in general, and in Croatia in particular, it attempted to create its own identity. Finally, this analysis provides key insights related to the context, theoretical framework, discourse and concept development of IR in Croatia. Adapted from the source document.

Summary Combined electoral systems were in expansion at the end of the 20th century and thus some authors considered them to be the electoral model for the future. Accordingly, there has been an increasing number of academic attempts to define and conceptualise these complex electoral systems. So far, two major interpretative streams emerged: structural (or mechanical) which is linked with Canadian scholars of election studies A. Blais and L. Massicotte, and the outcome-approach, largely developed by American scholars M.S. Shugart and P.M. Wattenberg. However, there is still much to add to these two interpretations. The author argues that a combined electoral system is specific for its combining of two elements: 1) the elections are based on two different levels of voting and of distribution of seats (name-based and list-based) and 2) they develop a specific model of voting -- with two votes per each voter (one for an individual candidate and the other for a list). When combined, these two elements create institutional setting for electoral competition, and thus the candidates and the parties are requested to develop more complex electoral strategies than in other types of electoral systems. Adapted from the source document.

Geospatial intelligence is a new direction in the development of geographic information science. Besides being a scientific discipline, it is also an intelligence activity and technology directed towards ensuring support for decision-making processes. It complements conventional GIS by combining data from various sources and creating an interactive environment that involves simultaneous access and input to integrated information by a group of individuals with different areas of expertise. The most prominent fields of application in geospatial intelligence are military operations and disaster management. The discipline is currently in the early stage of development in Croatia, and is almost entirely associated with Croatian participation in the Multinational Geospatial Co-production Program. ; Geoprostorno obavještavanje (geospatial intelligence) novi je smjer u razvoju geoinformacijske znanosti. No osim što je znanstvena disciplina, to je također i obavještajna aktivnost i tehnologija usmjerena prema osiguravanju podrške u procesima odlučivanja, odnosno donošenja odluka. Nadopunjujući konvencionalni GIS, ona kombinira podatke iz različitih izvora i stvara interaktivno okruženje koje uključuje istovremeni pristup integriranim informacijama i omogućuje pojedincima razlišitih struka unos podataka u sustav. Najznačajnija područja primjene geoprostornog obavještavanja su vojne akcije i upravljanje kriznim situacijama. U Hrvatskoj je ta disciplina u ranoj fazi razvoja i gotovo je u potpunosti vezana uz sudjelovanje Hrvatske u Multinacionalnom programu zajedničke geoprostorne proizvodnje.

Geoprostorno obavještavanje (geospatial intelligence) novi je smjer u razvoju geoinformacijske znanosti. No osim što je znanstvena disciplina, to je također i obavještajna aktivnost i tehnologija usmjerena prema osiguravanju podrške u procesima odlučivanja, odnosno donošenja odluka. Nadopunjujući konvencionalni GIS, ona kombinira podatke iz različitih izvora i stvara interaktivno okruženje koje uključuje istovremeni pristup integriranim informacijama i omogućuje pojedincima razlišitih struka unos podataka u sustav. Najznačajnija područja primjene geoprostornog obavještavanja su vojne akcije i upravljanje kriznim situacijama. U Hrvatskoj je ta disciplina u ranoj fazi razvoja i gotovo je u potpunosti vezana uz sudjelovanje Hrvatske u Multinacionalnom programu zajedničke geoprostorne proizvodnje. ; Geospatial intelligence is a new direction in the development of geographic information science. Besides being a scientific discipline, it is also an intelligence activity and technology directed towards ensuring support for decision-making processes. It complements conventional GIS by combining data from various sources and creating an interactive environment that involves simultaneous access and input to integrated information by a group of individuals with different areas of expertise. The most prominent fields of application in geospatial intelligence are military operations and disaster management. The discipline is currently in the early stage of development in Croatia, and is almost entirely associated with Croatian participation in the Multinational Geospatial Co-production Program.

The work General Theory of Modernity prompts us to reflect on & understand modernity as a fusion of two constitutive moments: the declarative moment, as an affirmation of the right to emancipation which is capable of constant revolutionary extension, & capitalism, which is simultaneously dynamic & revolutionary, a system both destructive & exploitative. There are two wrong ways of understanding this fusion. According to the liberal understanding, the declarative moment is accomplished in capitalism. According to the vulgar Marxist understanding, the emancipatory moment is a mere ideological illusion. Bidet's concept of "metastructure" offers a possibility of a more adequate understanding of the fusion. In Bidet's understanding of the metastructure of modernity, which is based on a specific reading & reconstruction of Marx's Capital, the metastructure designates a general matrix of possibilities of combining market & organization, as basic structural characteristics of modern society. The author critically disproves such an approach. It is better to start from the structure, from an analysis of capitalism, & show that capitalism also opens up emancipatory horizons which make it possible to refute capitalism. An adequate understanding of modernity requires an adequate theory of capitalism rather than a general theory of modernity. Such an approach does not reduce the normative discourse to some sort of super-structural epiphenomenon. It is logically quite possible to assert that certain principles & ideals emerge in a concrete historical context, but one can also assert that the contents of those principles & ideals transcend that context. Adapted from the source document.

Valuation of real estate is an important factor in the economic and political development of a modern state. Modern real estate valuation systems at national level are based on spatial data, both cadastral and topographic, which are maintained using advanced technologies -spatial databases in particular. Through adequate modelling, by combining data from the existing databases, it is possible to create a national system for real estate valuation. This paper first gives an elaboration of possible characteristics of a digital terrain model database, and continues to describe an approach to automatic calculation of 3D characteristics, i.e. the slope and the azimuth of a cadastral parcel. The system response time to queries for a single cadastral parcel was measured, as well as for a set of 5100 cadastral parcels, in an implementation based on the Oracle10g spatial database. ; Vrednovanje nekretnina je važan čimbenik u gospodarskom i političkom razvoju moderne države. Moderni sustavi za vrednovanje nekretnina na nacionalnoj razini svugdje su temeljeni na prostornim podacima, kako katastarskog tako i topografskog podrijetla, koji su održavani korištenjem naprednih tehnologija ponajprije prostornih baza podataka. Uz pravilno modeliranje moguće je kombiniranjem podataka iz raspoloživih baza stvoriti i nacionalni sustav za vrednovanje nekretnina. U članku je, nakon obrazloženja mogućih postavki baze digitalnog modela reljefa, opisan pristup automatskom računanju 3D obilježja odnosno nagiba i azimuta pojedine katastarske čestice. Obavljena su i okvirna mjerenja vremena odaziva na upit za jednu katastarsku česticu i za skup od 5100 katastarskih čestica u sustavu ostvarenom na prostornoj bazi podataka Oracle10g.

Koncept male države često se napada u znanosti zbog neprihvaćanja mogućnosti svrstavanja značajki dinamičnog svijeta, pa i država, u kategorije. Različitost primijenjenih kvantitativnih i kvalitativnih kriterija definiranja malih država omogućuje kombiniranje dvaju ili više kriterija, dajući pritom različite definicije malih država. Primjenom dvaju kvantitativnih kriterija, površine i broja stanovnika, u radu je napravljena klasifikacija malih država, koja pokazuje visoku podudarnost malog broja stanovnika i male površine država. Male države, kategorizirane prema primijenjenim kriterijima, čine gotovo trećinu svih svjetskih država, a nalaze se u gotovo svim svjetskim geopolitičkim regijama te su ponajviše nastale procesom dekolonizacije i raspadom višenacionalnih komunističkih federacija. Više od polovine malih svjetskih država čine male otočne države. Bez obzira na međusobne različitosti kod malih je država, posebice otočnih, moguće identificirati više zajedničkih značajki. ; The concept of small states has seldom been challenged in science, because of refusal to accept the possibility of grouping the characteristics of a dynamic world, such as states, into categories. The variability of quantitative and qualitative criteria that have been applied in defining small states open up possibilities of combining two or more criteria, giving us various definitions of small states. By applying two quantitative criteria, area and population, a classification of small states was made, showing high accordance in the number of states with small population and small area. Small states, defined by the criteria that were applied, make up for almost one third of all states in the World. Small states are primarily the result of the decolonization process and the break-up of multinational communist federations. Small island states comprise more than half of all small states in the World. Regardless of their differences, several attributes can be identified that are common to the small states.

Promjene zemljišnoga pokrova i načina korištenja zemljišta rezultat su složene interakcije čovjeka i okoliša. U radu se analizira promjena zemljišnoga pokrova i načina korištenja zemljišta u Donjoneretvanskom kraju 1990. – 2020. godine. Promjene političkoga i ekonomskoga sustava početkom 1990-ih posredno su i neposredno utjecale na promjene u pejzažu. Obradom multispektralnih snimaka izrađeni su kartografski prikazi zemljišnoga pokrova i načina korištenja zemljišta za 1990., 2005. i 2020. godinu. Osnovni izvor podatka bile su multispektralne satelitske snimke Landsat 5, Landsat 7 i Landsat 8. Struktura zemljišnoga pokrova i načina korištenja zemljišta utvrđena je hibridnim pristupom, tj. kombinacijom nenadzirane i ručne (vizualne) klasifikacije. Vrednovanje točnosti klasifikacija odrađeno je s pomoću matrice konfuzije i kappa koeficijenta. Rezultati istraživanja pokazuju da je u navedenom razdoblju došlo do porasta udjela izgrađenih površina za gotovo 33 %. Poljoprivredne površine te šume i travnjaci također su zabilježili porast, dok je udio močvara i površina s oskudnom vegetacijom reduciran. ; Changes in land use and land cover are the result of complex interactions between humans and their environment. This study examines land use and land cover changes in the Lower Neretva Region between 1990 and 2020. Political and economic changes in the early 1990s resulted in changes in the landscape, both directly and indirectly. Multispectral image processing was used to create thematic maps of land use and land cover for 1990, 2005, and 2020. Satellite images from Landsat 5, Landsat 7 and Landsat 8 were the main source of data. Land use and land cover structure was assessed using a hybrid approach, combining unsupervised and manual (visual) classification methods. An assessment of classification accuracy was carried out using a confusion matrix and kappa coefficient. According to the results of the study, the percentage of built-up areas increased by almost 33%. Agricultural land and forests and grasslands also increased, while the proportion of swamps and sparse vegetation areas decreased.

U radu se raspravlja o prisutnosti i aktualnosti filozofskog, dakle kritičkog promišljaja fenomena psihe i psihijatrije na geo-povijesnom tlu Republike Hrvatske, s metodološkim fokusom na: reprezentativne autore, spise i inicijative relevantne za navedeni diskurs, prisutnost sistematskog provođenja obrazovanja u sklopu fakultetskih kurikuluma, te izdavačku aktivnost tematski usmjerenu na problematiku psihe. Usmjerit će se i na domenu odnosa filozofije i psihe/psihijatrije u povijesnoj mereološkoj konstelaciji, njezin značaj za filozofiju psihe, kao i kategorički neodvojivi odnos filozofije i izučavanja psihe per se. Autor uvodi tezu da je filozofija psihe idealan misaoni poligon na kojem se isprepliću rudimentarni filozofijski disciplinarni smjerovi u rasponu od hermeneutike, fenomenologije, ontologije, epistemologije, logike, pa do socijalne i političke filozofije, filozofije egzistencije i etike. Kao idealni znanstveno-filozofski meritor predlaže se orijentacijska disciplina integrativne bioetike kao teleološki most za sjedinjavanje navedenih filozofskih disciplina. Pritom je naglasak na predmetu fenomena života, koji je evaluiran u analogiji sa semantikom predsokratovskog pojma ψυχή (psukhe). ; The paper discusses the presence and actuality of the philosophical, and therefore critical, think-ing of the phenomena of psyche and psychiatry in the geo-historical space of the Republic of Croatia. Its methodological focus is on: representative authors, writings and initiatives relevant to the mentioned discourse, the presence of systematic education within the faculty curriculum, and the publishing activity focused on the issues ofpsyche. The focus will be on the relationship between philosophy and psyche/psychiatry in the historical mereological constellation, on its importance for the philosophy of psyche, as well as the categorically inseparable relationship between philosophy and the perception of psyche. The author introduces the thesis that the philosophy of psyche is an ideal thinking polygon upon which rudimentary philosophical disciplinary directions are intertwined, ranging from hermeneutics, phenomenology, ontology, epistemology, and logic, to social and political philosophy, the philosophy of existence, and ethics. As an ideal scientific-philosophical descriptor, I suggest the discipline of integrative bioethics, which I look at as a teleological bridge for combining these disciplines. The emphasis will be on the subject of life phenomena, which I look at in an analogy with the pre-Socratic semantics of ψυχή (psukhe) as the dialectical synthesis of mind (nousj) and body (soma).

In the first part of the paper the conceptual framework of the political science approach to the state is outlined using some key insights of the contemporary political theory of the state. The second part of the paper contains a critical discussion about the scope & the purpose of those insights & puts forward a possible partial reconstruction of the main types of the state as methodological grounds for the developmental & comparative research of the process of the so-called transition. As the methodological basis for a contemporary reconstruction of the theory of the state, the set of basic terms (power, government, authority) -- as identified by A. Passerin d'Entreves -- can be used. A productive elaboration of these basic terms can be carried out by critically looking into the possibilities of combining the systematic approach by Passerin d'Entreves, the genealogical approach by Barret-Kriegel & the historico-political one by Q. Skinner. Also, the author points out how a full reconstruction of the concept of the state is not possible without a parallel reconstruction of the concept of society. The state as the fundamental legal/political project of modernism is possible only as a complementary process to the creation of the civic society as the fundamental politico-economic project of modernism. The state (sovereign) & the society (civic) are modern creations whose raison d'etre is the legal, economic & political subjectivization of the individual. The co-constitutive link between the state & the society -- the precondition for the possibility of the genuine process of the individual's emancipation in modernism -- is methodologically the central assumption for understanding the state & the logic of sovereignty. This reconstructed comprehensive understanding of the state enables a valid differentiation of the types of states in comparative research. The working hypothesis of this paper is to distinguish two pure types of the (modern) state: the power state (Machtstaat) & the legal state (Rechtsstaat). The reconstruction of the modern concept of the state & its major forms offers the final opportunity to identify the methodological injunction for looking into the logic of transition as the transition in the direction of the sovereign legal state in the fullness of its contemporary definition. References. Adapted from the source document.

This contribution to the discussion about Dag Strpic's book Karl Marx and the Political Economy of Modernity focuses on the author's assessment that the weakening of US economic hegemony is questionable, especially with regard to the future prospects of capitalism (and its development), and prefers to speak of a "redesign" thereof. Accordingly, this article analyses in detail three aspects of capitalism redesign: the causal, the contingent and the functional aspects. Regarding causality, the partial redistribution of leading roles in world economy is caused by the introduction of new methods, from industrial and media technology to financial speculations and new wars -- which make profit-making possible. Regarding contingency, the shift in the centre provides opportunity for a small number of countries, such as China, India and Brazil, which are endowed with capitalist "talent" (in the sense of combining the policy of resource mobilization with elements of positive evaluation of labour in the local culture), to climb the ladder of successful development. The functional aspects indicate the favourable effects of the shift in the centre not only for newcomers to the club of the most developed, but also to the USA. The financialization of (primarily American) economy, along with giving over leadership to other industrial powers in many branches of industrial production, and in the rate of economic growth -- i.e. with a "new division of labour" in the centre -- gives to the US some sort of "aristocratic" status in the world of capitalism. Such a status is not incompatible with the cyclic process of capitalism development. Instead of a dialectical leap toward socialism, it rather aspires to a partial restoration of feudalism, as a global order of strong states in the centre and weak or apparent states on the margins. This, however, is not the worst possible ending of modern history. If a much more pronounced decline of US economic power in favour of the newcomers were to occur, this would probably strengthen the brutality of capitalism rather than weaken it. Provided that, in the EU, the trend of further decomposition of the welfare state is stopped, and the indispensable balance between the requirements of economic growth and of social solidarity and general well-being is restored, only a genuine and comprehensive "Europeanization" of the capitalist system could make possible the emergence of a global capitalism with a human face, and probably also of a world state which would provide for a balanced development of all parts of the world. Adapted from the source document.

Kameni ciborij iznad glavnog oltara korčulanske katedrale je remek-djelo najvećega korčulanskog klesara i graditelja Marka Andrijića, s proporcijama zlatnog reza i elementima pravog renesansnog stila. Potkraj 18. stoljeća četvrti, završni kat krova ciborija je uklonjen, a neki dijelovi su nestali. Donji dio ciborija je besprijekorno isklesan, dok je osmerostrani krov izrađen znatno lošije, s brojnim nedovršenostima, pogreškama, preklesavanjima i skraćivanjima. Na temelju detaljne analize tragova klesarskog alata i promjena geometrije kamenih elemenata, te studije izvornog ugovora o gradnji, donesen je zaključak da je donji dio ciborija izradio Marko Andrijić sa svojom radionicom, a gornji dio klesari koji nisu razumjeli njegov nacrt, odnosno konvenciju prikazivanja projekcije kosih površina u skraćenju. Srećom, iako je radi ispravka klesarske pogreške gornji dio ciborija malo sužen i snižen, ukupna proporcija nije se zbog toga bitno promijenila, pa je nakon restauracije izvornog stanja to najbolje djelo korčulanske renesanse ponovo zasjalo izvornim sjajem. ; The most prominent member of a large family of stonemasons, and certainly the greatest stonemason and builder from Korčula, Marko Andrijić learned his trade not only in the workshop of his father, the famous stonemason Andrija Marković, but also working on numerous commissions throughout Dalmatia and all the way to Italy. In his home town of Korčula, he gained fame by working on the modernization of the city fortifications and the cathedral, which is why the Venetian government appointed him lifelong protomaster of all public buildings. His work on the completion of the bell tower on the Cathedral of St. Mark stands out, because he did it in an unprecedented way, combining an octagonal loggia with a dome, lantern and promenade surrounded with a balustrade that served as an observatory. In addition to the bell tower, Andrijić transformed the entire cathedral: he placed vaults above the side aisles and galleries above them, raised the nave, and decorated the upper part of the façade with richly carved stonework. He added a sacristy to the cathedral, a ciborium over the main altar, and a bridge over the street towards the bishop's court, and built a tomb for Bishop Malumbra. In 1486, Andrijić agreed to design and build a magnificent ciborium above the main altar of the cathedral. The extraordinary proportions and brilliantly executed details of the ciborium, combining the Gothic and Renaissance styles, surpass local significance. This was the first time that a classical pillar with entasis and genuine Corinthian capitals, as well as composite capitals with dolphin and siren motifs, had appeared in Croatian art. The ciborium's appearance was significantly changed during the complete redesign of the cathedral's interior in the Baroque style, undertaken by Bishop Josip Kosirić at the end of the 18th century. In order for a sculpture of the Risen Christ to be placed on top, the upper tier of the ciborium roof was replaced with awkward, curved stone elements that belonged to older church furniture and had been re-carved to fit the ciborium. Joško Belamarić found the final tier of Andrijić's ciborium roof in the lapidary of the abbey collection, turned upside down and converted into a baptismal font. This discovery made it possible to make an ideal reconstruction of the original appearance by completing the natural sequence of four openings in the surface of the first-tier of the ciborium roof to one opening the surface of the fourth-tier. In order to re-establish the integrity of Andrijić's masterpiece, and taking into account the angle of parts of the roof on the ciborium and its proportions, a draft was made with the reconstructed missing elements: eight segments of the third-tier roof and the small dome. After the upper part of the ciborium was disassembled to preserve the stone and consolidate the structure, all the stone elements, holes for fixing metal joints, traces of masonry tools, damage, re-carving and shortening were inspected and analysed in detail. A stonemason's mark was found on the upper surface of the architrave, which determined the position of the elements of the first tier of the roof, which, according to the original design, should have been about 9 cm wider on all sides. It was concluded that the perfectly carved lower part of the ciborium was made by Marko Andrijić in his workshop, and the inferior roof was made by stonemasons who did not understand his design. In order to understand what exactly happened and to be able to make the right conservation decision on how to restore the ciborium, it was necessary to return to the original construction contract, kept in the Zadar State Archives. A complete transcription and translation of the contract, with the payments written in the margins, was made. Master Marko Andrijić committed to carving a ciborium of stone from Vrnik and based on the design he had made, in the following two years for the price of one hundred and fifteen ducats. If he failed to complete the ciborium within the agreed time, the master had to pay a fine, but he was allowed to let other master stonemasons complete the work in that case. Judging by the recorded payments, the construction of the ciborium took six years instead of two, and Marko did not pay a fine, and he even received about seven ducats more than the agreed price. The excess payment probably relates to the statues of the Annunciation, which had to be contracted subsequently with an annex that has not yet been found. After about two-thirds of the ciborium was complete, the work was stopped, and after more than two years, work was continued, probably by one of Marko's brothers, but he was not up to the task. Due to an error in transferring the dimensions and angle of inclination of the roof surfaces from the draft, the replacement masters had to re-carve the already-executed elements of the first-tier roof and improvise to fill the resulting cavities. As a result of these errors, the roof of the ciborium was narrowed and lowered. However, viewed as a whole, the proportional system of the ciborium, consisting of four rectangles of the golden ratio placed one above the other, is not significantly affected by a small but proportional reduction in the dimensions of the roof. Between 2014 and 2019, the Croatian Conservation Institute repaired the damaged elements, carved the missing parts, and re-assembled and connected the upper part of the ciborium with metal clamps filled with lead, with all the necessary reinforcement of the structure. After more than two centuries, the best work of Korčula's architectural and stoneworking art was once again made whole.

Stjecanjem povlastica slobodnoga i kraljevskoga grada započelo je novo razdoblje osječke povijesti. Promjene su se ponajviše ticale funkcioniranja gradske uprave u novim pravnim i društvenim okolnostima. Dosadašnja rijetka istraživanja onovremene osječke upravne povijesti u pravilu su se zadržavala na ustrojstvu i nadležnostima tamošnje gradske općine. U ovom radu autori su se bavili pitanjem sastava i značajki prve uprave slobodnoga i kraljevskoga grada Osijeka, koja je s radom počela u kolovozu 1809. godine. Na temelju gradiva osječkoga poglavarstva autori daju povijesni i pravni kontekst izboru i imenovanju članova uprave te analizu njihovih sociodemografskih karakteristika zabilježenih primarno u evidencijama građana. ; When the city of Osijek received the charter of privileges and became a free and royal city in 1809, a new stage in its historical and legal development began. Although the citizens' request for the charter from the Emperor Francis I was probably mainly motivated by the presumed prospects of the economic development, as it arrived rather late, i.e. some four decades before the feudalism was abolished in the Habsburg lands, its effects were mostly of legal and administrational nature. This is probably why the few works that cover the topic of Osijek's municipal history in the first half of the 19th century mainly deal with issues such as legal status of the Free and Royal City of Osijek and its citizens, the organisation of the local authority, etc. Although these historical aspects are indeed crucial to understanding the role of the local authority in the broad system of public (state) administration, as well as in the community, there are others that could complement our knowledge in that respect, such as the influence of different political, ideological, demographic and cultural factors. Among them are sociodemographic characteristics of the members of the city government. Besides an overview of the historical events prior to the election and appointment of the first government of the Free and Royal City of Osijek, the legal context and its organisation, as well as the very process of election, the authors analyse the sociodemographic characteristics of its highest-ranking members. The analysis included 57 officials and administration officers, i.e. 7 members of the City Council (Magistrate), 40 members of the Elected Commune (Assembly) with its President, and 9 other heads and deputies of the most important offices and services. Characteristics recorded in the registries of Osijek's citizens that were in focus of the research were the nobility status, religion, profession and place of origin. Combining the results and the official criteria for the election of the local authority officials and officers, the authors suggest that the leading criteria were the education and former work experience in the public administration. This is, of course, related to the social standing of the individuals, because the elites traditionally had better education and better overall access to public positions. Consequently, the majority of nobles and intellectual workers among the citizens were elected or appointed to a position in the local authority. Two most represented groups (equal in numbers) were merchants and craftsmen, but if we look at the overall population of people with citizen status, there were three times more craftsmen than merchants, which means that the latter were, relatively speaking, more represented in the local administration, as their social status was generally better. The only two religious groups that could apply for Osijek's citizenship were members of the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox communities. The latter, as a minority, was a slightly underrepresented, but within the limits of the obligatory one quarter of the representatives in the Elected Commune. The place of origin had little or no influence on the election and appointment of members of the local authority, but it clearly portrays the City of Osijek as a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural community in which the citizens that came from other parts of the Habsburg Monarchy or even outside of it were well integrated.

Demokracije su u opasnosti da će ih zadaviti populistički demagozi, koji se postavljaju kao jedini i istinski vođe "naroda", i koji zanemarujući ustavnu "strukturu slobode", parlamentarnu supremaciju, kontrolu sudova i, nadasve, ustavna ograničenja dovode u izravnu vezu s odlučivanjem biračkog tijela. Referendumi se sve više koriste za donošenje određenih odluka koje ne mogu proći u parlamentu. Tvrdi se da ne smije postojati nikakva prepreka vlasti naroda. Ovaj je fenomen najpoznatiji liberalni časopis The Economist obilježio novom riječju referendumanijom u kojoj se referendum izravno povezuje s manijom. U okolnostima kada televizija i Internet pokazuje svu bijedu brojnih skupština i to ne samo u novim već i u zrelim demokracijama taj je fenomen dobio punu simpatiju šire javnosti. Nakon što je u Velikoj Britaniji toj matici svih parlamenata referendum o Brexitu iskorišten kao instrument političke borbe što je dovelo do tekućeg "pretapanja" visoko cijenjenog britanskog političkog sistema izgleda da se ispunilo najgore moguće proročanstvo o napredovanju populističkih snaga u velikom broju europskih država. Republika Hrvatska je već dugo izložena takvim ugrozama od strane političkih grupa koje se ekstremno protive politici Vlade, počam od katoličkih konzervativaca a odnedavno i sindikalista. Zahvaljujući neadekvatnoj regulaciji refrerenduma o građanskim inicijativama gdje se ne govori o nikakvom kvorumu već se odluka donosi većinom onih koji glasuju mogućnosti manipulacije su ogromne. U postojećim okolnostima trajne konfuzije, brojni političari koji su već izjavili svoju namjeru da će ukoliko budu izabrani za Predsjednika Republike takav referendum koristiti radi uklanjanja svih kontrola i provjera koje postoje između šefa države i "naroda". Imajući u vidu krizu demokracije i smatrajući takve prijetnje sasvim ozbiljnim autor naglašava potrebu da se jednim međustranačkim dogovorom stvore uvjeti kojima bi se referendum uz odgovarajuću regulaciju uklopio u deemokreatski sistem ustavne demokracije. ; Democracies are at risk to be strangled by the populist demagogues, posturing as the only and true leaders of 'the people', while disregarding constitutional "structure of liberty", meaning that, the parliamentary supremacy, judicial review and, above all, the constitutional limits to the very direct decision making by the voters' constituencies. Referenda are being used ever more, often to push certain decision, which could not pass the parliament. The claim is that there must not be any limits to the power of the people. That phenomenon the most esteemed liberal magazine "The Economist" nicknamed coining the word "referendumania", apparently combining 'a mania' with 'referenda'. It has been received with a lot of sympathy by the general public, in circumstances when the television and the Internet shows all the misery of the numerous assemblies, not only in a new but also in the mature democracies. After the referendum on the Brexit has been used as an instrument of the political struggle in the mother of parliaments, Great Britain, which lead to the ongoing "melting down" of the highly valued British political system, it seems that the worst of prophecies are realized by advancing populist forces in a number of Euroepan states. Republic of Croatia has been for a long time exposed to such treats, by the political groups extremely opposed to governmental policies, first by the Catholic conservatives and most recently by the trade unionists. Due to the very inadequate regulation of the referenda on civil initiatives, whereas the decision is to be made by a majority of those who vote, without any quorum being provided, the posibilites of manipulation are enormous. In the lasting confusion, a number of politicians has already proclaimed their intention, if elected the president of the Republic, to use such a referendum in order to remove all the checks and balances between the chief of state and "the people". Taking such treats very seriously in the existing crisis of democracy, the author emphasizes hi plead for an interparty agreement which would enable the referendum to be properly regulated and thus incorporated into the system of a democratic constitutional democracy.